The Anti-Prince

Power rarely announces itself directly. It works through maneuvers—sometimes subtle, sometimes blunt—that tilt circumstances in favor of the few who understand the rules. For centuries, those rules have been more familiar to the Princes of Earth than to the People.
 
In 1513, Niccolò Machiavelli codified them in The Prince. He described not ideals but methods: how to divide rivals, how to instill fear, how to control information, how to bend loyalty to one’s purposes. His advice was addressed to dukes and princes, but the same strategies appear in boardrooms and legislatures, small offices and school boards. They endure because they reflect recurring features of human psychology and group behavior.
 
This book has two aims. First, to render Machiavelli’s tactics clearly, so that readers can see how they operate in practice. Second, to place alongside them counter-tactics: practical steps anyone can use to resist, neutralize or redirect these maneuvers. Where Machiavelli instructs the aspirant to power, this book equips those who decline to be its objects.
 
To be aware of these strategies is to lessen their effect. A trick exposed is less convincing; a manipulation named is easier to resist. The Anti-Prince is intended as a manual for recognition and response, a means of closing the gap between those who know the game and those who must live with its consequences.