The 48 Laws of Power

Before Mastery, came The 48 Laws of Power—the New York Times bestseller that started it all Amoral, cunning, ruthless, and instructive, The 48 Laws of Power is the definitive manual for anyone interested in gaining, observing, or defending against ultimate control. In the book that People magazine proclaimed beguiling and fascinating, Robert Greene and Joost Elffers have distilled three thousand years of the history of power into 48 essential laws by drawing from the philosophies of Machiavelli, Sun Tzu, and Carl Von Clausewitz and also from the lives of figures ranging from Henry Kissinger to P.T. Barnum. Some laws teach the need for prudence Law 1 Never Outshine the Master, others teach the value of confidence Law 28 Enter Action with Boldness, and many recommend absolute self-preservation Law 15 Crush Your Enemy Totally.