Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Laws of Power is a practical, readable guide for anyone who wants power, watches power, or want to arm themselves against power. Written by Robert Greene and produced and designed by Joost Elffers, the renowned packager of The Secret Language of Birthdays, The 48 Laws of Power will be known as the essential--and controversial--guide to modern manipulation. In a bold and elegant two-color package, The 48 Laws of Power synthesizes the philosophies of Machiavelli, Suntzu, and Carl Von Clausewitz, with the historical legacies of statesmen, warriors, seducers, and con men throughout the ages. Using the stories of such figures as Queen Elizabeth I, Henry Kissinger, and P. T. Barnum, the Laws are illustrated through the tactics, triumphs, and failures of those who have wielded-- and those who have been victimized by--Power. At work, in relationships, on the street, or on the five o'clock news, these Laws are exerted everywhere. Whether your interest is conquest, self-defense, or simply being an educated spectator, The 48 Laws of Power will be the most important book you buy this year.
Amazon.com Review
"Learning the game of power requires a certain way of looking at the world, a shifting of perspective," writes Robert Greene. Mastery of one's emotions and the arts of deception and indirection are, he goes on to assert, essential. The 48 laws outlined in this book "have a simple premise: certain actions always increase one's power ... while others decrease it and even ruin us." The laws cull their principles from many great schemers--and scheming instructors--throughout history, from Sun-Tzu to Talleyrand, from Casanova to con man Yellow Kid Weil. They are straightforward in their amoral simplicity: "Get others to do the work for you, but always take the credit," or "Discover each man's thumbscrew." Each chapter provides examples of the consequences of observance or transgression of the law, along with "keys to power," potential "reversals" (where the converse of the law might also be useful), and a single paragraph cleverly laid out to suggest an image (such as the aforementioned thumbscrew); the margins are filled with illustrative quotations. Practitioners of one-upmanship have been given a new, comprehensive training manual, as up-to-date as it is timeless.
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