The Prince (Version 4): Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

The Prince (Version 4), credited to Niccolò Machiavelli, is available as a LibriVox volunteer audiobook. This guide identifies the recording, its source summary and its audio tracks.

About the work

The LibriVox catalogue summary, preserved with the recording, reads:

LibriVox recording of The Prince (Version 4) by Niccolò Machiavelli. (Translated by William K. Marriott.) Read in English by Clive Catterall. This book is a five hundred year old manual for how to run a kingdom or principality. Written in 1513 but not published until 1532, "The Prince" generated controversy even before it got into print. Unlike the many previous "how-to" mamuals for new rulers, "The Prince" only judged actions by their effectiveness and did not consider morals or ethics at all. Some of the suggestions were so brutal and amoral that many critics in the 18th century considered "The Prince" to be a satire, as they could not believe that any philosopher would seriously promote such actions. But perhaps the real reason for the discomfort of Machiavelli's critics is that he accurately observes and reports the actions of the most effective rulers of Renaissance Italy. Despite questions about Machiavelli's intention, there was no question about the effectiveness of his methods. Copies of "The Prince" were owned and studied by Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII of England, the founding fathers of the American revolution, the leaders of the Parliamentarians who destroyed the Monarchy in the English Civil War, the leaders of the Glorious Revolution who restored the Monarchy twenty years later, Napoleon Bonaparte, Joseph Stalin and Benito Mussolini and many others. In the late 20th Century it was even considered the "Mafia Bible" by mobsters John Gotti and Ray DeMeo. So if you have recently acquired a kingdom or suddenly become the head of an organised crime family, this is the book for you. It's interesting for the rest of us too. (Summary by Clive Catterall)

Recording facts

• Recording title: The Prince (Version 4)
• Author credits: Niccolò Machiavelli
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 8
• Listed recording duration: 3:16:36

Catalogue topics

• political philosophy
• statecraft

Track guide

1. 01 - Dedication and Chapters 1 to 3 — 24:28
2. 02 - Chapters 4 to 6 — 16:17
3. 03 - Chapters 7 and 8 — 25:32
4. 04 - Chapters 9 to 12 — 28:14
5. 05 - Chapters 13 to 16 — 22:35
6. 06 - Chapters 17 to 19 — 35:41
7. 07 - Chapters 20 to 23 — 24:40
8. 08 - Chapters 24 to 26 — 19:09

Listen to this recording

Open the complete recording and player on Internet Archive. The player includes the full track list and available download formats.

Source and rights

This is a record from LibriVox's official Internet Archive collection, with a public-domain licence recorded in its metadata. LibriVox's policy includes its catalogue summaries as well as its recordings. Its public-domain assessment follows United States law; copyright status can differ elsewhere. The summary and track facts are reproduced and reformatted from that record. Dates attached to the archive upload are not treated as original book publication dates.