{"product_id":"paddy-machiavelli","title":"Paddy Machiavelli","description":"\u003cp\u003eIt’s been 500 years since Niccolò Machiavelli wrote \u003cem\u003eThe Prince\u003c\/em\u003e, but his words have hardly passed into irrelevance. Here to make that point, in his inimitable style, is celebrated \u003cem\u003eSunday Independent\u003c\/em\u003e political columnist John Drennan.\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eIt might appear strange that a 16th-century Italian political philosopher should provide us with a roadmap to political power in Ireland, but as Drennan makes clear, the gap between the parish pump and the Renaissance palazzo is a narrow one indeed.\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eA veteran of countless Leinster House power plays, Drennan draws on Machiavelli to cultivate invaluable advice for the aspiring politician, such as how to cultivate the cloak of being an ‘ordinary decent skin’, how to choose your scapegoats carefully and how to be a straight-talker whilst embracing vagueness.\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eThis hilarious account of the compromises the Irish politician has to make in order to seize power is not just a ‘celebration’ of the politics of cynical amorality; it’s a timely reminder of the role we play in choosing our leaders.\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe definitive guide to success in Irish politics, \u003cem\u003ePaddy Machiavelli\u003c\/em\u003e will have you laughing and crying all the way to the ballot box.\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e‘There is a fierce intelligence and fierce independence at work here. No one avoids his gimlet eye, and he brings to the whole bizarre ecosystem of the Dáil a unique perspective, that of the insider who remains resolutely outside.’ Brendan O’Connor, \u003cem\u003eThe Sunday Independent\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e‘Drennan’s storytelling style is stage Irish, and like a culchie Cicero, he laces his brilliance with bile. It is the politics of Paddy and in the tradition of Hall’s Pictorial Weekly via Craggy Island’ Gerard Howlin, \u003cem\u003eThe Sunday Times\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt’s been 500 years since Niccolo Machiavelli wrote \u003cem\u003eThe Prince\u003c\/em\u003e, but his words have hardly passed into irrelevance. Here to make that point, in his inimitable style, is celebrated Sunday Independent columnist John Drennan, a man who’s witnessed his fair share of Leinster House tiffs and power plays.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gill Books","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":55124026884483,"sku":"9780717158102","price":19.99,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0910\/3664\/7811\/files\/8222bc9e2421047cbda8815a2872c8e0.jpg?v=1741015371","url":"https:\/\/shop.gill.ie\/products\/paddy-machiavelli","provider":"Gill","version":"1.0","type":"link"}