Entire review by P. Miller, "Fearless Books," March 5, 2004.

"If you’ve ever thought that human conflict has too many sources to be resolved with a one-size-fits-all panacea, Andra Medea has written a book you don’t want to miss. A teacher of conflict management at the University of Chicago and co-author of Against Rape (which earned her the honor of being banned by the apartheid government of South Africa), Medea says her book is "based on the idea that different kinds of conflicts operate by different rules. This means that you have not been crazy all along."

"The author then proceeds to explain some major features of various conflicts, including adrenaline flooding (why people "kill projects they love, walk away from people they care about and get into furious arguments over last year’s tomato plants"); primate signals ("People may grab onto one wrist, hug their arms around themselves, or get a white-knuckle grip on a steno pad. Small, frightened chimpanzees do similar things. It doesn’t look good in humans") and blind behavior ("Arthur Anderson executives, after being forced out of business over Enron, sincerely felt they were scapegoats; yet this was not the first time they’d been caught and the company was already on probation for other problems at a different firm"), among others.

"As you can tell from the quotes, the success of Medea’s book owes as much to a clear and engaging writing style as her broad-minded comprehension of the diverse ways that human relationships and negotiations can go wrong. You could read ten best-sellers by overpaid CEOs and not get half as much wisdom on human resources management, not to mention that the author’s advice can be useful in families and international politics as well. "

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