The Anatomy of Peace by The Arbinger Institute - Starting Point

The Anatomy of Peace is an interesting and slightly quirky book. It's mostly the tone that's could be off-putting for some (it's all in the form of dialogue), but if you can get past that and a potential historical argument (which would be really missing the point!) I think you'll find here an extremely helpful, practical book on approaching people with a helpful, constructive and, I would even say, pro-life attitude.

The basic gist of the book is that we should treat people as people rather than objects and that doing so has the potential to resolve all kinds of conflicts within relationships. The focus is generally on family and business relationships, but it's really quite universally applicable.

Here's an official description of the book:

"Through an intriguing story of parents struggling with their children and with problems that have come to consume their lives, we learn from once-bitter enemies the way to find peace whenever war is upon us. Yusuf al-Falah, an Arab, and Avi Rozen, a Jew, each lost his father at the hands of the other's ethnic cousins. The Anatomy of Peace is the story of how they came together, how they help warring parents and children to come together, and how we too can find our way out of the struggles that weigh us down."


The Anatomy of Peace is available in print, as an e-book or on audio.

And here's a little sample:

"'I become an agent of change,' Yusuf continued, 'only to the degree that I begin to live to help things go right rather than simply to correct things that are going wrong. Rather than simply correcting, for example, I need to re-energize my teaching, my helping, my listening, my learning. I need to put time and effort into building relationships.'"