How to Win an Election

An Ancient Guide for Modern Politicians

By: Quintus Tullius Cicero, Philip Freeman - translator

Narrated by: Doug Kaye

Length: 1 hr and 5 mins

Publisher's summary

How to Win an Election is an ancient Roman guide for campaigning that is as up-to-date as tomorrow's headlines. In 64 BC when idealist Marcus Cicero, Rome's greatest orator, ran for consul (the highest office in the Republic), his practical brother Quintus decided he needed some no-nonsense advice on running a successful campaign. What follows in his short letter are timeless bits of political wisdom, from the importance of promising everything to everybody and reminding voters about the sexual scandals of your opponents to being a chameleon, putting on a good show for the masses, and constantly surrounding yourself with rabid supporters. Presented here in a lively and colorful new translation, this unashamedly pragmatic primer on the humble art of personal politicking is dead-on (Cicero won) - and as relevant today as when it was written.

A little-known classic in the spirit of Machiavelli's Prince, How to Win an Election is required reading for politicians and everyone who enjoys watching them try to manipulate their way into office.

©2012 Princeton University Press (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Machiavelli for elections

This book should be required reading for anyone contemplating an election campaign. It should also be read by any serious student of politics. I doubt if anyone other than Machiavelli has distilled so much wisdom in such a succinct yet entertaining manner.

Great title

This is a great book that is paramount to the understanding of today’s political atmospheres!

Not Marcus Tullius Cicero

Any additional comments?

Just to be clear these are the words of Quintus Tullius Cicero, the younger brother of the famous Marcus Tullius Cicero. So if you're looking for the well known historical figure's words of wisdom, these are not them, but they are close.

Close, because they are a list of political insights that mostly hold true to this day and are worthy of a listen for anyone interested in bringing history to life and discovering how little things have changed.

Timeless advice

My goodness how things have not changed over the centuries! As I listened, I could see this advice being followed by many of the successful politicians in modern times.

A Precious Gift to the Politically Inclined

This book is actually a letter, and it tackles from multiple angles the basic precepts of what it means and what it takes to run for political office almost anywhere in the world.
It doesn't matter that it was written over 2,000 years ago, everything in this book still applies today. How little we have changed.

Interesting

A short letter, with a helpful introduction and conclusion, it gives interesting insight into the politics of the ancient Roman Republic. There is still much in this letter that applies today (for good or I'll).

not "The Prince" by any means

Any additional comments?

I have seen this book compared to "The Prince." I suppose that is a fair comparison in some ways. But, this is basically a short "letter," and without the depth of "The Prince." But, I enjoyed the opportunity of a glimpse into the daily lives of the ancient Roman.

If only my fellow Americans had read this...

If you could sum up How to Win an Election in three words, what would they be?

"How Win Election"

What was the most compelling aspect of this narrative?

The truth it provides

What does Doug Kaye bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Nothing, but he did a fantastic job of narration.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

What American political tradition lacks.

Any additional comments?

This should be standard in schools.

Advice about politics that really is true…

…showing human behavior in elections stays much the same despite the gap of 2085 years—I can safely say as a practitioner in the field.

The clear-mindedness is the author is remarkable.

How to be a politician ...

Cicero gives an incredibly concise outline to his brother who is running for office in ancient Rome. The same outline entirely explainsToday's politicians on both sides of the aisle. Clearly people are the same today as then, and must be addressed in the same predictable ways to obtain their vote, help and money.

Perhaps you and I are the exceptions??

I now know how to run for office simply by following Cicero's concise plan. After reading the plan, it all in the execution.

I did not know much about Cicero, but please view his Curriculum Vitae on Wikipedia!

I had no idea. Almost stunning.

Ben