What makes this well-annotated translation stand out from others is an insightful introduction by editor Thomas G. Bergin–especially helpful for achieving a better understanding of the times and the political scene in which Machiavelli worked, lived, and wrote. Also included are a list of important dates in Machiavelli's life, an index of proper names in the text and notes, and a selected bibliography.

Niccolo Machiavelli was an Italian philosopher and writer, and is considered one of the founders of modern political science. He was a diplomat and civil servant in the Florentine Republic in the sixteenth century, until arrested for conspiracy in 1513 after which he gave his time to writing.

Thomas G. Bergin - 1904 - 1987 - was an American scholar of Italian literature. He was an authority on writers including Dante, Boccaccio, and Petrarch, and Giovanni Verga. His translated works such as Dante's Divine Comedy and Niccolò Machiavelli's The Prince.