The One About Book Club: The 48 Laws Of Power: Introduction

Welcome to the inaugural edition of The One About Book Club. The purpose of this feature is to introduce people to books and sometimes works in other media that I feel have something important to say to Progressives. The structure is very simple. The first post will be an introduction to the book. Subsequent postings will cover one or more chapters. I will offer a summary of the chapters, and my thoughts on the idea presented therein. I will try to offer enough information so that buying the book is not absolutely necessary, however it is highly advisable that you do so, as obviously a mere synopsis is not really going to provide you with all the nuance and detail.

Our first book is The 48 Laws Of Power.

The Books History:

Written by Robert Greene, it was originally published in hard cover in 1998 by Viking Press. It was then published by Penguin in a trade paperback format in 2000, and then an abridged version was published 2002. It is also available unabridged on audio CD.

My History With The Book:

I am one of those people who is constantly “surfing” book stores, and libraries. Wandering around, pulling titles off of shelves with interesting titles, and sitting and skimming through, trying to get a sense of whether or not I’d be interested in reading the whole thing. I found The 48 Laws Of Power, in the self help section of Barnes and Noble last year while I was still living in the Morgantown West Virginia area. I was familiar, not with it, but with the well known works the author draws on, and so was immediately intrigued. I picked up a copy and read it from cover to cover in a matter of days. I found it’s format, and it’s content absolutely riveting. Ever since I bought it, it has been an indispensable guide to trying to understand those who tread the corridors of power. While I am not amoral enough to follow all of it’s advices, I am smart enough to know that just because I might not be willing to sell myself and others out for power, does not mean that there are not others who are more than willing. I find this book an excellent tool in understanding them and coming up with strategies to combat them.

What The 48 Laws Of Power Is About:

The book is essentially a fusion and distillation of three primary sources with a great number of supplementary sources drawn on as needed. The primary sources are,


The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli
The Art Of Worldly Wisdom by Baltasar Gracián and
The Art Of War by Sun Tzu

However as I said there are numerous supplementary sources, too many to be listed in this article.

What Greene has done is take those works and distilled their essences down to create 48 essential laws for gaining power, keeping power, and wielding power. He then offers examples of those who either followed the law and succeeded, or failed to follow it and failed. Then there is a catchy summary at the end.

But that alone would only make this book mildly interesting. What makes it so incredible and honestly fun to read, is that Greene uses multiple example relevant to the Law at hand from history, fiction, and folk lore. In the margins in red are anecdotes of all kinds that are as informative and illustrative as the main text.

The Chapters Of The 48 Laws Of Power:

In this book each law is a chapter unto itself which is perfect for easy reference, and will work quite nicely for our purposes as well. The chapters (hereafter to be referred to as they are in the books as Laws) are….

* Law 1 Never Outshine the Master
* Law 2 Never put too Much Trust in Friends, Learn how to use Enemies
* Law 3 Conceal your Intentions
* Law 4 Always Say Less than Necessary
* Law 5 So Much Depends on Reputation. Guard it with your Life
* Law 6 Court Attention at all Cost
* Law 7 Get others to do the Work for you, but Always Take the Credit
* Law 8 Make other People come to you, use Bait if Necessary
* Law 9 Win through your Actions, Never through Argument
* Law 10 Infection: Avoid the Unhappy and Unlucky
* Law 11 Learn to Keep People Dependent on You
* Law 12 Use Selective Honesty and Generosity to Disarm your Victim
* Law 13 When Asking for Help, Appeal to People’s Self-Interest, Never to their Mercy or Gratitude
* Law 14 Pose as a Friend, Work as a Spy
* Law 15 Crush your Enemy Totally
* Law 16 Use Absence to Increase Respect and Honor
* Law 17 Keep Others in Suspended Terror: Cultivate an Air of Unpredictability
* Law 18 Do Not Build Fortresses to Protect Yourself. Isolation is Dangerous
* Law 19 Know Who You’re Dealing with. Do Not Offend the Wrong Person
* Law 20 Do Not Commit to Anyone
* Law 21 Play a Sucker to Catch a Sucker. Seem Dumber than your Mark
* Law 22 Use the Surrender Tactic: Transform Weakness into Power
* Law 23 Concentrate Your Forces
* Law 24 Play the Perfect Courtier
* Law 25 Re-Create Yourself
* Law 26 Keep Your Hands Clean
* Law 27 Play on People’s Need to Believe to Create a Cultlike Following
* Law 28 Enter Action with Boldness
* Law 29 Plan All the Way to the End
* Law 30 Make your Accomplishments Seem Effortless
* Law 31 Control the Options: Get Others to Play with the Cards you Deal
* Law 32 Play to People’s Fantasies
* Law 33 Discover Each Man’s Thumbscrew
* Law 34 Be Royal in your Own Fashion: Act like a King to be treated like one
* Law 35 Master the Art of Timing
* Law 36 Disdain Things you cannot have: Ignoring them is the best Revenge
* Law 37 Create Compelling Spectacles
* Law 38 Think as you like but Behave like others
* Law 39 Stir up Waters to Catch Fish
* Law 40 Despise the Free Lunch
* Law 41 Avoid Stepping into a Great Man’s Shoes
* Law 42 Strike the Shepherd and the Sheep will Scatter
* Law 43 Work on the Hearts and Minds of Others
* Law 44 Disarm and Infuriate with the Mirror Effect
* Law 45 Preach the Need for Change, but Never Reform too much at Once
* Law 46 Never appear Perfect
* Law 47 Do not go Past the Mark you Aimed for; In Victory, Learn when to Stop
* Law 48 Assume Formlessness

Alright, that gives you a bit of an over view of the book. Tomorrow I will be discussing the first two laws. I look forward to sharing this book with you and hearing your thoughts on it.

Keep The Faith My Brothers And Sisters!

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