Widely acknowledged as the sixteenth century's most significant handbook on leadership. The Book of the Courtier offers an insider's view of court life and culture during the Renaissance. Set in 1507, when the author himself was an attache to the Duke of Urbinol the book consists of a series of fictional conversations between members of the Duke's retinue, 411 aspects of leadership come under discussion, but the primary focus rests upon the relationship between advisors and those whom they counsel. Ever-relevant subjects include the decision-making process, maintaining an ethical stance, and the best ways of interacting with authority figures. Frequently assigned in university courses on literature, history, and Renaissance studies the Dover edition of this classic work will be the lowest-priced edition available. Unabridged republication of the Leonard Eckstein Opdycke translation originally published by Horace Liveright, New York, in 1901.