I was visiting my parents in Florida one winter when I was about thirty-something and I was browsing my father’s limited book collection at the time. He used to have more books as he gifted about 6000 books to a local library once on the verge of his retirement. Even after that, he had a sizable collection at their summer camp.
I came across a title by Machiavelli “The Prince” and since I had some negative preset ‘feelings’ about this known title, I looked upon my father with an inquisitive look. He answered me. He said, oh yes, “I kept this book for you because I thought that it would ‘fit’ you perfectly”. “You can have it and keep it”.
So I did. I read the book. I read the book multiple times. To this day, it is on the top five best books on my list.
From this article, and others from her and her friends, I understand more why this book had some ‘preset’ negativity instilled in me by some fake religious culture and other means.
>>> “The Index Librorum Prohibitorum would form as a consequence of this report, and its lists of forbidden books, which were judged to be dangerous to the faith and morals of Roman Catholics, had a suspicious gravitation towards works by platonic humanists. Among the banned works would include those of Dante, Erasmus and all of Machiavelli’s books. This meant that the Aristotelians now held power in Rome.”
risingtidefoundation.net/2020/07/16/a-study-of-schillers-ghost-seer-part-i/
You may get and read the book here; www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=Machiavelli+%22The+Prince%22