The Art of War Author:Niccolo Machiavelli The only political work published during Machiavelli's lifetime, The Art of War delivers political, historic, and scholarly advice through seven chapters in the form of a Socratic dialogue. In his own words, the book's purpose is "To honor and reward virtue, not to have contempt for poverty, to constrain citizens to love one another, to live wit... more »hout factions, and to esteem less the private than the public good."« less