Naked Economics, by Charles Wheelan
The Prince, by Niccolò Machiavelli

This month takes us to a couple of tell-it-like it is versions of socio-economics, from Machiavelli’s stark discussion of what no one wanted to say about politics in 1512, to Wheelan’s comforting discussion of what everyone wanted to say about Capitalism in 2002. The Prince is written as a primer to young rulers, an alarmingly honest and practical instruction manual to supplant the Christian humanist lessons that new princes might normally receive at that time. The stated goal of Naked Economics is to break through the drear of the undergraduate study, cast off the bowties of the professorial set, and present the field of economics as the exciting and intuitive subject it actually is. Maybe we all imagine ourselves princes now. Or something.

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