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Cover of The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene

The 48 Laws of Power

Robert Greene

  • 452 pages · about 8 hours
  • First published 1998
  • 51 editions
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1 About this book

Amoral, cunning, ruthless, and instructive, this piercing work distills three thousand years of the history of power in to forty-eight well explicated laws. As attention--grabbing in its design as it is in its content, this bold volume outlines the laws of power in their unvarnished essence, synthesizing the philosophies of Machiavelli, Sun-tzu, Carl von Clausewitz, and other great thinkers.

Some laws teach the need for prudence ("Law 1: Never Outshine the Master"), the virtue of stealth ("Law 3: Conceal Your Intentions"), and many demand the total absence of mercy ("Law 15: Crush Your Enemy Totally"), but like it or not, all have applications in real life.

Illustrated through the tactics of Queen Elizabeth I, Henry Kissinger, P. T. Barnum, and other famous figures who have wielded--or been victimized by--power, these laws will fascinate any reader interested in gaining, observing, or defending against ultimate control.

  • Control (Psychology)
  • Power (Social sciences)
  • Political science
  • History & Theory
  • Psychology
  • Business & economics
  • Motivational
  • Self-help

2 What to expect

A long, deliberately cynical handbook on how power is won and kept, set out as 48 "laws," each illustrated with stories of courtiers, generals and con artists from history. Read it as a study of manipulation as much as a manual; it works best one law at a time.

Good for readers who want: history told through stories, the psychology of power, and a book to read in pieces.

3 About Robert Greene

Born 1958

Robert Greene (born May 14, 1959) is an American author of books on strategy, power, and seduction. He has written seven international bestsellers, including The 48 Laws of Power, The Art of Seduction, The 33 Strategies of War, The 50th Law (with rapper 50 Cent), Mastery, The Laws of Human Nature, and The Daily Laws. His eighth book, The Law of the Sublime, was published in November 2026.

Bio adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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