The term Machievellian is generally understood by most people to be devious and unscrupulous behavior by a person. Few people understand where the term comes from except that he was a person who lived sometime in the past. It turns out from history that he actually wrote a book called "The Prince" supposedly based on his real life observations of rulers who were in power at the time. Many people watch shows like "Game of Thrones" and "House of Cards" caught up in the ruthless actions of it's characters. For those who care to see it I am providing a link to The History Channels page about Machievelli. The ads on the page are horrible and make it difficult to actually read. I apologize in advance for their shameless attempt to profit from our desire for information.

https://www.history.com/topics/renaissance/machiavelli

You may be asking yourself how does that apply to our lives today. Well aside from plots that provide entertainment it is not difficult to see Machievellian principles being applied today. It seems as if his book "The Prince" became favored reading of some of the most ruthless dictators in history. I'll let you draw your own conclusions from that. When we see lies being sold as truth. Countries being attacked for reasons that cannot be supported by evidence. You really have to wonder just how big of an impact on history and the present that one little book written by a person from the 16th centurry has had.