.KEYWORD politics
.FLYINGHEAD PALMPOWER BOOK-OF-THE-MONTH CLUB
.TITLE Strange bedfellows: Palm resources for the political animal
.DEPT
.SUMMARY We at PalmPower Magazine believe that wearing big, floppy clown shoes and being a semi-professional clog dancer is ideal preparation for this month’s PalmPower Book of the Month Club column. Our intrepid book editors, Craig Froehle and John Swain, make helpful suggestions of politics-related documents you can download and read on your Palm device. And, unlike our elected politicians in Washington, Craig and John managed to keep the entire discussion out of the bedroom.
.AUTHOR Craig Froehle and John Swain
Despite the barrage of phone calls from their mothers on last month’s taboo-breaking article on human sexuality, our columnists continue to tackle those subjects that are best avoided in polite company. This month they examine the world of politics and the resources that are available for the Palm organizer, a subject sure to provoke their families into moving without leaving a forwarding address.
.H1 Politics as literature
Probably the most notorious, and perhaps misconstrued work regarding the manipulation of the political state is Niccolo Machiavelli’s masterpiece, The Prince. Written at the dawn of the 16th century, The Prince is almost synonymous in modern society as a "How-To" manual on the operation of a corrupt, totalitarian government. This perception is so strong that Machiavelli’s name is now a seemingly permanent fixture in our lexicon as an adjective for craftiness or deceit. The irony is that The Prince was born on paper as an attempt to find employment by an out of work politician.
Niccolo Machiavelli was a Florentine, born in 1469. As far as history can determine, his childhood was uneventful. The political climate of his youth, however, was a charged and dangerous time. His youth coincided with the height of the Florentine Renaissance and a rapidly changing Italian political landscape.
As a young man, Machiavelli certainly watched as Florence was forced to accept humiliating terms of surrender to a victorious French invasion force. The resulting exile of the ruling Medici family invoked an intense period of strife and anarchy. The blurred lines between religion and politics proved an ever-volatile combination.
Of note was the rise and fall of Girolamo Savanarola. A Dominican friar, Savanarola believed that he was sent as a guardian from God to raise the consciousness of the Florentine people to their impending doom. His power and popularity grew to such extent that when the Medici family was expelled in 1494, Savanarola ruled the city. His influence extended quickly to Italy at large. Ultimately Savanarola’s political ambitions ran afoul of the Pope, who sought to control the friar’s influence. In the end, after continuing to practice as a priest despite his excommunication, Girolamo Savanarola was tortured and hanged. It was against the backdrop of Savanarola’s execution that Niccolo Machiavelli first entered politics.
Niccolo began his political career in the government of Florence as a secretary. However, it was not long before his political acumen was recognized and he was soon engaged in more demanding diplomatic missions. These diplomatic missions were the vehicles that would put Machiavelli in contact with the Pope, kings of nations, and notorious princes of state like Caesar Borgia.
At the seeming height of Niccolo’s political career, the Medici family returned to power and the Florentine republic was overthrown. Machiavelli soon found himself tortured and removed from office. Extremely eager to return to the political arena under the new rulers, he devised a plan. In an attempt to curry favor, he wrote a book outlining what he thought were the Medici goals and dedicated it to them. The book, of course, was The Prince.
Unfortunately, Machiavelli’s ability to read the Medici goals seems to have been far less apt than his political theorizing. The Medici disliked his book and he remained an out-of-favor politician. Eventually, with years of persistence Niccolo was able to gain the political favor he sought and again served in office for the final two years of his life. The Prince was first published widely in 1532, five years after his death.
.H1 Political reference materials
Politics has shaped nearly every aspect of the world as we know it. Whether politics takes shape in the form of presidential elections, philosophical treatises, or partisan bickering, information on the subject can easily be found in Palm format. For example, many great historical documents are dramatic political statements of their day. The Gettysburg Address, the Magna Carta, the Declaration of Arbroath, and the Irish Declaration of Independence are but a few of the many historical documents available in DOC format.
One political document that has had a profound effect on the world’s history is "The Communist Manifesto" by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Written in 1848, this work is one of the foundations of communist theory, and continues to have a significant influence on the social sciences as well as global politics.
If you’re looking for more pragmatic information that may help you win the Jeopardy Daily Double, then you won’t want to miss the many lists of political persons available for the PalmPilot. Examples of these factual documents include lists of all the American presidents, kings of Scotland from 843 AD forward, British kings and queens from 802 AD, a database of past and present UK prime ministers, and even databases of all US senators and members of the House of Representatives.
Finally, if you desire more recent documentation of politics in action, check out the last several years of the U.S. presidential State of the Union addresses. Or, if that’s just too bland for your palate, download everything your heart desires regarding the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal (covered more completely in last month’s column). While not exactly a shining moment in political history, these documents provide amazing depth into a rather complex and politically charged situation.
Like few other topics, politics seems to present a constant source of conversation, debate, humor, and incredulity no matter whose side you’re on. Whether you’re interested in fictional or factual history, or just want to brush up on your political trivia, there are a wealth of related documents available for reading on your Palm organizer or Workpad.
All of the above documents can be found at either MemoWare or The Lending Library. Or, take a tour around the PalmPilot E-text Web-Ring. You may be surprised to find exactly what you’re looking for!
.BEGIN_SIDEBAR
.H1 Product availability and resources
Visit MemoWare, maintained by Craig Froehle, at http://www.memoware.com.
Visit The Lending Library, maintained by John Swain, at http://www.macduff.net.
Tour the PalmPilot E-text Web-Ring at http://www.pilotlibrary.org/webring.html.
.END_SIDEBAR
.BIO After failing Clown College, John Swain works in the New York metropolitan area, but still insists on wearing the big floppy shoes to client meetings. Craig Froehle is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Business Administration, but secretly longs for the carefree days he spent as a semi-professional clog dancer.
.DISCUSS http://powerboards.zatz.com/cgi-bin/webx?13@@.ee6c4de
