Niccolo Machiavelli taught that political leaders must be prepared to do evil that good may come of it, and his name has been a byword ever since for duplicity and immorality. Is his sinister reputation deserved? In answering this question Quentin Skinner focuses on three major works, The Prince, The Discources , and The History of Florence , and distils from them an introduction to Machiavelli's doctrines of exemplary clarity. This book is intended for students from sixth-form level upwards of politics, history, the Renaissance.