If anyone has read this, and could provide a Marxist/materialist perspective, or a link to a known one, I would greatly appreciate it.

Edit: Wow! I am glad I asked before wasting any time at all reading any part of this. Thank you.

I am asking, because I was recommended to read Dale Carnegie's 1936 book How to Win Friends and Influence People, by my current boss, and I had read that when I was 19 at the recommendation of my Evangelical father. I mostly disliked it then, finding it trite and vague. So, I was trying to find an alternative, and tried to look up an alternative that I could read instead. I saw that this 48 Laws book was highly read by people incarcerated in US prisons, and the book had been banned by many prisons. I was hoping it had some sort of subversive anti-authoritarian messaging that could fly under my boss's radar.

  • ProletarianDictator [none/use name]
    ·
    14 days ago

    Recommended to me by a libertarian when I was a Bernie Bro lib. Read it and remember kinda liking it at the time.

    Libs of all stripes will universally love this book. Only ones who don't hate it because they're addicted to moral grandstanding. But really, it's trash that libs love because it confirms all their clichés. This is something a lib will read then feel scholarly putting everything Putin or Xi does in these terms while smugly libsplaining to other libs about "how authoritarians think"

    Maybe a handful of worthwhile thoughts in the whole thing, but most of it is drivel or immediately obvious observations.

    If you understand dialectical materialism and base/superstructure, there's little for you to learn, but if you don't, this is a book that will reinforce idealist brainworms with bits of historical anecdotes to provide an air of pseudo-intellectualism.

    High fructose corn syrup of idealism posing as an unhealthy, lib-safe materialism substitute.

    Best analogies I can draw are:

    • The Art of War, repackaged in an even lib friendlier form.
    • "Rules for Rulers" video by CGPGrey, but in book form.

    Lovers of poorly-drawn alternate history or stick figure YouTube videos justifying western imperialism would enjoy this. Has no real use for Marxists unless you have no interpersonal skills.

    Reviews (5)

    "the best instruction manual since I was forced to read Machiavelli."

    — Dudebro Chud: ★★★★★

    "So true! This is exactly how ebil Putler and Xi think! Very useful. Favorite book I have read since I finished Harry Potter."

    — Insufferable Turbolib: ★★★★★

    "This is why Marxists can't be trusted with a state. Stalin did all of these when he crushed my savior Makhno with his giant spoon."

    — Reddit Anarchist: ★★★★★

    "not very insightful. supplementary at best when your interpersonal skills fail to guide you. actively harmful without understanding dialectical materialism."

    — Marxist: ★☆☆☆☆

    "Anyone who likes this is ontologically evil. Just like Drumpf. Triggered by even the suggestion that someone else would think this way. #fuckputin #SlobberUkraini"

    — ImStillWithHer_1975: ☆☆☆☆☆

    If you're that interested, read the bulleted list of rules.