Le Prince de Machiavel: édition originale

The Prince offers a pragmatic, sometimes ruthless view of leadership. I'm curious about what motivated him to explore these ideas so openly and whether he saw it as advice or critique.

Machiavelli suggests rulers sometimes need to be ruthless to maintain power, which made me wonder how modern leaders interpret these lessons. Do readers see this as practical or troubling?

His tone seems both pragmatic and cautionary at times. I'm interested in whether his writing was meant as a manual or a critique of the political realities of his time.