Few thinkers have been so widely quoted and so deeply misunderstood as Niccolo Machiavelli. For centuries, his name has been shorthand for political deceit—a man who supposedly preached that any act, ...

When news breaks, you need to understand what actually matters — and what to do about it. At Vox, our mission to help you make sense of the world has never been more vital. But we can’t do it on our ...

If a writer’s works are born from the intersection of their human experiences, why should we then consider them in isolation?

Niccolo Machiavelli was an Italian Renaissance diplomat, author, philosopher and historian whose life was closely connected to the political instability of his era, sparking his strong words on ruling ...

The term “Orwellian” has always struck me as curiously Orwellian — a mild example of doublespeak that ties an author’s good name to the dystopia he so memorably depicted. (See also “Dickensian” and ...