Some Notes From Sawyer's Lever of Power

Following is the text from the back cover

Despite being disparaged as the refuge of the weak and pernicious, the chosen mode of Asiatic and other duplicitous peoples, ever since antiquity deceptive measures have enabled dramatic battlefield success by acting as a “lever or power.” Historical records unequivocally show both China and the West have virtually unbroken traditions of innovating deceit and employing deception. Western tacticians theorized less, but they well recognized the advantages of deceit, maneuver, betrayal, and false treaties.

            Lever of Power comprehensively examines deception’s historical evolution in China and the West; provides extensive translations of important Chinese, Greek, and Latin military writings on the concept; and characterizes the chief measures in terms of method, dynamics, and objective. Numerous important, commonly recognized historical exemplifications – many still assiduously studied in PRC think tanks -- are provided for each category, resulting in a fundamental study of deception that synthesizes theory and illustrative case studies.

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"Ralph Sawyer, a leading student of intelligence and strategy, is the world’s authority on Chinese theory and practice about these matters. The research is phenomenal and the book summarizes his ideas with power and elegance. No one interested in deception and strategy can afford to miss it.”

Dr. John Ferris, Authorized Historian, GCHQ

Professor of History, University of Calgary

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Ralph D. Sawyer is a historical scholar and strategic consultant who has specialized in Chinese military and intelligence issues for five decades. His well reviewed analytical writings include the companion volume, The Tao of Deception: Unorthodox Warfare in Historic and Modern China, The Tao of Spycraft, Ancient Chinese Warfare, Conquest and Domination, and Fire and Water. His highly praised translations, all of which feature extensive historical introductions, range from the groundbreaking Seven Military Classics of Ancient China through Sun-tzu’s Art of War, Sun Pin’s Military Methods, the Hundred Unorthodox Strategies, Strategies for the Human Realm, The Tao of War, and Zhuge Liang: Strategy, Achievements, and Writings. A long term Fellow of the Centre for Military and Strategic Studies and a visiting scholar at numerous institutions, he continues to be a Senior Research Fellow with the Warring States Project.

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