The Prince: A Round Table Comic

I love graphic novels, pictures are so much easier then words. If you are learning about this piece of literature then this is a must have.

This work not only captures the strength and subtleties of the original work, it also renders it in an understandable and summarized form. Thus the reader will enjoy the intricacies of both power and statesmen mindset. At a graphical level its also praise worthy cause its art and how much the depictions do in favour of understanding the text that accompanies them. Nice and entertaining. It will leave you wondering on its teachings, no doubt

I teach young adult literature and content area literacy courses for pre-service teachers, and I am adding this adaptation of "The Prince" to my list of recommended graphic novels from which my students can choose. Because it provides an accessible and engaging pathway into a classic work of political science, this version of "The Prince" provides an excellent example of a graphic novel that can serve as a vehicle for content area learning, a theme that is explored in both courses. In my previous career teaching humanities and Western civilization survey courses at the high school level, I would have quickly adopted this book as a core text for my students. Machiavelli's ideas on leadership were a core component of our integrated social studies and language arts curriculum. We assigned excerpts from The Prince out of a humanities textbook, which served the curriculum adequately. However, the excerpts available in our textbook were limited in that they gave extended focus on a few sections of The Prince and summaries of the other areas. Students would struggle to make meaning of the actual passages, then zip through the summaries, with the end result of knowing only one or two maxims from "The Prince" ("the end justifies the means" and "fortune favors the bold"). Although our students were able to take away a few ideas about Machiavelli that they could file in their cognitive libraries of the world's great philosophers (our immediate goal in exposing them to "The Prince"), the greater educative goal of inspiring an interest in deeper study of Machiavelli's philosophy and laying the groundwork for more extended reading of the original text was not served well by our approach. If I were to teach high school humanities again, I would replace our textbook readings with Clester's adaptation of "The Prince" in a heartbeat - not as a parallel text for reluctant or struggling readers, but as the core text for students at all reading levels to get a first exposure to Machiavelli's ideas. The organization of "The Prince" around Machiavelli's original chapter headings gives the work a modular structure that keeps the focus on the book's main themes and provides teachers with a good blueprint for breaking the text down into teachable sections for deeper inquiry by individuals or cooperative groups. Clester's de-emphasis of many of the detailed historical examples given by Machiavelli in the original text provides readers with a great opportunity for inquiry learning, to find examples and counter-examples of Machiavelli's recommendations throughout ancient and modern history. Students reading Machiavelli's original work for the first time and lacking the author's deep historical knowledge can lose track of the main themes as they wade through footnotes attempting to fill in the gaps in their understanding of world history. Clester does both his readers and Machiavelli himself a favor by distilling The Prince to its essential ideas on leadership and providing engaging imagery to support Machiavelli's recommendations, while leaving the historical evidence for such recommendations largely to the readers' fancy to pursue. Having studied "The Prince" both in plain text translation and in prior graphic novel adaptations, I set up a mental litmus test when approaching the new Round Table Comics adaptation. Two days after a first read, how much of the text could I recall easily without reviewing the text? I'm pleased to report that Shane Clester's graphic adaptation passed the text with flying colors, as I was able to not only recall specific passages verbatim, but also to connect those verbal recollections with Clester's deceptively whimsical drawings. "The Prince" as adapted and illustrated by Shane Clester weds text and imagery in a model demonstration of the unique ability of sequential art narrative to convey complex ideas, to provide powerful visual reinforcement to support comprehension and retention and to inspire further inquiry and application to the modern world.

The design of the comic book is good. Easy to read with comic, but should use easier language. If you only read the comic version, you will not understand some sentences well because the comic cuts lots of important information from the original book.

I imagine many people have heard the name Machiavelli, and maybe the term, Machiavellian, without knowing much about the Italian philosopher who lived in the late 1400s to early 1500s. The diplomat, political philosopher, and playwright wrote many things, but "The Prince" is probably his best known work. Now, thanks to Round Table Comics, and Shane Clester, "The Prince" can be enjoyed in a short, easily digested, graphic novel format, introducing the classic to many readers who may never have read this advice to a prince otherwise. In a short enjoyable time, you can learn about Machiavelli and what Machiavellian refers to. I like these Round Table and Smarter Comics that actually teach something in a short fun way. The key concepts from Machiavelli's "The Prince" are shared with great artwork accompanying text boxes with Machiavelli's advice. Advice that many may think cruel or cutthroat, but when really thought about, reflects human nature. Maybe that is why it has become a classic. Without judgment of right or wrong, you can decide for yourself how you might learn from advice such as "It's better to be feared than loved," "A prince never lacks legitimate reasons to break his promise," and "Be a fox to discover the snares, and a lion to terrify the wolves." Even though the text was written centuries ago, people have not changed all that much, and you'll see where Machiavelli's observations and writings are as relevant and applicable today as they ever were. As he said, "I'm not interested in preserving the status quo; I want to overthrow it." I strongly recommend these graphic novel adaptations of of books that are classics or teach lessons. They provide great introductions to the works, which hopefully will motivate people to read the full texts of the originals, or they provide quick fun reviews of books you may have already read and you just want to touch on the main points. Clester did a fine job of illustrating the Prince, which added to the lessons. I have liked several of his adaptations so far, including Larry Winget's "Shut Up, Stop Whining, and Get a Life." He's a good artist, and the illustrations do add to the lessons or words being told. If you like graphic novels, you understand. If you are new to them, thinking they are just comics for kids, you may be pleasantly surprised. It was a very enjoyable quick read of this classic. Reviewed by Alain Burrese, J.D., author of the "Tough Guy Wisdom" series.

Useful as an introduction to some of Macchiavelli's ideas through a comic book format. I liked that, in a fifty page adaption, he still gives an overview of the examples Machiavelli gave of Agathocles, Cesare Borgia, Ferdinand of Aragon, Darius, the Turkish Sultan vs. the King of France, etc., while still contextualizing the material within Macchiavelli's Florence and Italy.

Review: Machiavelli, by Shane Clester (published by Round Table Comics) I read Machiavelli in high school. Most of us probably did. I can't say that I remember it though. So either I was a Marty-McFly-slacker-reader in high school, which could very well be true if you trace my academic history back to high school, or I really didn't connect to or feel engaged by Machiavelli's advice for a would be young Prince. Going into reading this graphic novel, I was - to say the least - skeptical. Boring, I thought. But when I read Shane Clester's Introduction to his graphic novel adaptation of The Prince I began to feel differently: "Every once in awhile, someone would throw around the phrase `Machiavellian' when a person would concoct some elaborate scheme to advance his or her station in life. While I understood the intent, I didn't really know the meaning. And I thought, how relevant could philosophies from the 1500s be, anyway? Turns out they're just as relevant today." Feeling similarly, Clester now had my attention. And with thoughtful illustrations and intuitive insight, Clester does indeed - and brilliantly so - translate Machiavelli's advice for modern readers. A clear master of the comic book format, Clester's graphic novel breathes new life into a once seemingly out of date or somewhat dry text. Complete with verbal and visual lessons that explain the nuances between what a young leader should or should not do, or, better yet, appear to do or not do, this graphic novel earns an A+.

After reviewing, I confirmed my suspicions that Machavelli got a bum rap for what he wrote. Balanced, interesting, and entertaining. This goes on the shelf with my other "How to conquer the world" collection, as I humorously tell my teen.