Why Nations Fail
As a follow on to the Bear Skin blog post several weeks ago titled ‘What would Machiavelli Do?‘ comes this short comment on the book “Why Nations Fail” by Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson. While Niccolo Machiavelli gave a very well thought out treatise on what Princes, or individuals of power, should do to maintain […]
What Would Machiavelli Do?
Niccolo Machiavelli was a 16th century Italian diplomat and political theorist, author of The Prince (Il Principe). His short treatise was published in 1532 and has forever secured his fame [or infamy] as the book is singularly responsible for bringing the word “Machiavellian” into usage as a pejorative word in relation social and political dynamics. The […]
Why I am So Wise – Nietzsche
Why I Am So Wise is one of several chapter essays with ironic titles including ‘Why I am So Clever” and “Why I Write Such Good Books,” in Friedrich Nietzsche’s Ecce Homo: How One Becomes What One Is [1908]. The book is the last original book written by philosopher before his death in 1900 and was published […]
We Children
Ode to a Nightingale
My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pain My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk, Or emptied some dull opiate to the drains –//– –//– So starts John Keats’ “Ode to a Nightingale.” Published in 1819 it is another of the great works of the Romantic era. It is full of Romantic […]