The 33 strategies of war
As in his bestselling The 48 Laws of Power, Greene puts a modern spin on wisdom that has stood the test of history, only this time his role model is Sun Tzu rather than Machiavelli. The argument is fairly standard: despite our most noble intentions, "aggressive impulses that are impossible to ignore or repress" make military combat a fitting metaphor for getting ahead in life. Greene's advice covers everything from steeling one's mind for battle to specific defensive and offensive tactics -- notably, the final section on "dirty" warfare is one of the book's longest. Historical lessons are outlined and interpreted, with amplifying quotations crammed into the margins. Not all of the examples are drawn from the battlefield; in one section, Greene skips nimbly from Lyndon Johnson's tenacity to Julius Caesar's decisiveness, from Joan Crawford's refusal to compromise to Ted Williams's competitive drive. Alfred Hitchcock, he says, embodies "the detached-Buddha tactic" of appearing uninvolved while remaining in total control. The diversity of subject matter compensates for occasional lapses into stilted warriorese ("arm yourself with prudence, and never completely lay down your arms, not even for friends"). -- from http://www.amazon.com (June 22, 2011)
xxii, 471, 15 pages ; 24 cm
9780143112785, 0143112783
1014028169
Part. I. Self-directed warfare. 1. Declare war on your enemies: The polarity strategy
- 2. Do not fight the last war: The guerrilla-war-of-the-mind strategy
- 3. Amidst the turmoil of events, do not lose your presence of mind: The counterbalance strategy
- 4. Create a sense of urgency and desperation: The death-ground strategy
Part. II. Organizational (team) warfare. 5. Avoid the snares of groupthink: The command-and-control strategy
- 6. Segment your forces: The controlled-chaos strategy
- 7. Transform your war into a crusade: Morale strategies
Part. III. Defensive warfare. 8. Pick your battle carefully: The perfect-economy strategy
- 9. Turn the tables: The counterattack strategy
- 10. Create a threatening presence: Deterrence strategies
- 11. Trade space for time: The nonengagement strategy
Part. IV. Offensive warfare. 12. Lose battles but win the war: Grand strategy
- 13. Know your enemy: The intelligence strategy
- 14. Overwhelm resistance with speed and suddenness: The blitzkrieg strategy
- 15. Control the dynamic: Forcing strategies
- 16. Hit them where it hurts: The center-of-gravity strategy
- 17. Defeat them in detail: The divide-and-conquer strategy
- 18. Expose and attack your opponent's soft flank: The turning strategy
- 19. Envelop the enemy: The annihilation strategy
- 20. Maneuver them into weakness: The ripening-for-the sickle strategy
- 21. Negotiate while advancing: The diplomatic-war strategy
- 22. Know how to end things: The exit strategy
- pt. V. Unconventional (dirty) warfare. 23. Weave a seamless blend of fact and fiction: Misperception strategies
- 24. Take the line of least expectation: The ordinary-extraordinary strategy
- 25. Occupy the moral high ground: The righteous strategy
- 26. Deny them targets: The strategy of the void
- 27. Seem to work for the interests of others while furthering your own: The alliance strategy
- 28. Give your rivals enough rope to hang themselves: The one-upmanship strategy
- 29. Take small bites: The fait accompli strategy
- 30. Penetrate their minds: Communication strategies
- 31. Destroy from within: The inner-front strategy
- 32. Dominate while seeming to submit: The passive-aggression strategy
- 33. Sow uncertainty and panic through acts of terror: The chain-reaction strategy
Includes an excerpt of the author's Mastery
"A Joost Elfers production."