The editors of PEOPLE Magazine present Prince for PEOPLE Prince.

Silva provides a case study of the life and ideas of the self-styled Dom Oba II d'Africa, Prince of the People and "street character."

If any book could be called legendary, surely it is this one. Its author, Italian diplomat and philosopher NICCOL MACHIAVELLI (1469-1527) considered it his greatest work. Indeed, his thoughts on politics, as laid out so famously in this brief but profound work, have become so synonymous with him that his name has become an adjective: Machiavellian. How is political power achieved? How is it maintained? Though Machiavelli states explicitly that he is not discussing "Republics" here, only "Princedoms," this coldly rational guidebook to taking control and holding onto it contains such universal insights into human nature and the structure of human systems that his "advice" serves equally well in almost any power structure. With applications in such diverse realms as business, the military, even role-playing games, Machiavelli's rules for ruling continue to be required reading for students of politics, philosophy, and ethics.

The Janus face of the Dutch East Indies Company—representing a merchant on one side and a prince on the other—has long puzzled historians. How could a commercial enterprise, firmly rooted in a tradition of free trade, turn into a powerful monopolistic empire the moment its ships rounded the Cape of Good Hope? This book, based on Company archives and Malay historical material, offers a reconstruction of the VOC’s double role in the complex world of eighteenth-century Malay court politics. It describes the successes and failures of the VOC’s political trade system as practised in its tin trade in the Straits of Malacca from 1740 to 1800. Careful consideration is given to the Company’s relations with the sultanates of Pelembang and Johore, and the position of the VOC with respect to its English and Chinese competitors. The author’s main thesis is that the VOC’s political mode of operation, far from being a deviation from its proper merchant’s role, was an essential means to achieving success: trade privileges were ‘bought’ by rendering political support to indigenous princes. Contrary to popular opinion, however, the system was not based on forced deliveries, the merchant prince’s iron hand. When this resulted in stable and friendly alliances gentle Janus’s system could bear fruit, even in the difficult years of the late eighteenth century.

This work presents a fascinating account of a cross-Canada tour of Edward VIII, British Prince of Wales, on a train in 1919 by a British journalist. The writer has presented all the facts accurately and simply, making this work historically significant.