Robert Greene worked about 50 jobs before The 48 Laws of Power
Before he became famous for dissecting power, Robert Greene estimates he held around 50 jobs, from construction worker and translator to Hollywood screenwriter. A chance meeting at an Italian art school in 1995 led to his first book, now so widely read by rappers and executives that American prisons ban his work more than anyone else's.
Greene was born in 1959 and raised in Los Angeles, the younger son of Jewish parents. He started at the University of California, Berkeley, and finished a classical studies degree at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. In 1995, writing for Fabrica, an Italian school devoted to art and media, he met the book packager Joost Elffers and pitched him an idea about power. The resulting book appeared in 1998.
The 48 Laws of Power treats power as neither good nor evil and builds each law from historical figures such as Machiavelli, Sun Tzu, Elizabeth I and P. T. Barnum, pairing examples of people who broke a rule with those who kept it. It has sold more than 1.2 million copies and turns up in lyrics by Jay-Z, Kanye West and Drake. The Sunday Times dubbed it a Hollywood backstabber's bible. Greene insists he takes his own advice with a pinch of salt; 'crush your enemy', he says, describes how big tech firms compete, not how to treat an annoying colleague.
Six more bestsellers followed. The Art of Seduction sorts seducers into nine types, from the Rake to the Siren. The 33 Strategies of War draws on commanders and others from Napoleon to Alfred Hitchcock, and The 50th Law, written with rapper 50 Cent, debuted at number five on the New York Times list. Mastery studies figures like Darwin and the Wright brothers, while The Laws of Human Nature, which he considers his most complete work, explores hidden motives and biases.
Just before that 2018 book launched, a blood clot in his neck caused a serious stroke that left him temporarily without use of his left hand and leg. Greene lives in Los Angeles with filmmaker Anna Biller, practises Zen Buddhism and mentored the author Ryan Holiday.
Source: Robert Greene (American author)
