The 48 Laws of Power Summary & key ideas explained

In the summer of 1661, a French minister gave one of the most dazzling parties France had ever seen, all in honor of his young king. Within weeks he was in a cell, and he would die a prisoner. He hadn't stolen a crown or plotted a murder. He had simply broken a rule nobody had written down.

Robert Greene wrote those rules down. Working with the book packager Joost Elffers, he combed through three thousand years of history, from Chinese emperors and Renaissance courts to con men and showmen, and boiled what he found into 48 laws. Each one comes with stories of people who broke it and paid, and people who followed it and thrived, and a note on when following it can backfire.

Greene's starting point is uncomfortable. You can't opt out of power. Every office, family and friendship has its pecking order, and pretending to be above the game only leaves you powerless, a piece on someone else's board. The old royal courts are his model: a place where you couldn't grab power openly, so the winners learned to be indirect, charming and patient.

You don't have to like these laws. Many are cold, some are ruthless. But once you see them, you'll notice them everywhere, in meetings, in politics and in the people who always seem to land on their feet.

Rather than march through all 48, we'll group them into seven big ideas. And the first one starts with that ill-fated party.