The Art of Fighting: The Transformative Power of Conflict

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

FEATURED AT NBC’S TODAY SHOW, NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, AND MANY MORE

“This is not just a book about having better arguments, it's a manual for building stronger relationships.”—Adam Grant

“A paradigm-shifting examination of how we can get along better by understanding the role of conflict in our lives more deeply.” —Jefferson Fisher

“Priya Parker offers a generous, radically helpful guide through our divides—without flattening what makes us different.” — Suleika Jaouad

A paradigm-shattering exploration of how we fight and how we build healthy conflict, from the bestselling author of The Art of Gathering

We say we want community. Successful teams. High-performing colleagues and workplaces. Dynamic friend groups. Yet many of us don’t understand the crucial element we need to forge long-lasting communities in our lives: healthy conflict.

In The Art of Fighting, Priya Parker explains that we can’t form and grow effective relationships without a fight. She rejects the idea that conflict is abnormal or that good groups don’t fight. All groups change and evolve; indeed, it’s because people disagree that good groups flourish.

As she did in the now-classic The Art of Gathering, Parker draws on her far-reaching experience as a conflict facilitator, her own detailed research, and real-world examples to lay out the ways that people can identify disputes, determine how to address them, and what to do if they are insurmountable. Whether people disagree in the boardroom or the locker room, on a playground or in church, online or in person, conflict is a part of life, and understanding healthy conflict and how to harness its power is more important than ever. The Art of Fighting is a vital primer to help all of us understand how to do that.

“The Art of Fighting couldn’t land at a better time.” —The Wall Street Journal

“Astute and humane … A wise manual for clashing with care.” —Publishers Weekly

“Readable, intelligent and relatable … an exceptional guide for any group seeking ways to transform conflict into an occasion for positive growth.”—Kirkus

“The strongest and most effective relationships are often built on healthy conflict. A vital skill for movement building, for every facet of our personal and political lives, Parker gives us the tools to build bridges across our disputes in this essential book.”—The Emancipator

“Priya Parker illuminates how to navigate the hard conversations we’d rather avoid —and how to come out wiser and more connected.” —Daniel L. Shapiro, author of Negotiating the Nonnegotiable

“The Art of Fighting is a must read for all of us.” —Alicia Garza, co-founder, Black Lives Matter and author of The Purpose of Power

“Leave it to Priya Parker to name that the missing link to growing new ways of community is not merely in connecting meaningfully, but in fighting meaningfully. This is a life-giving book, and Priya is the luminous and ingenious teacher we need.”—Krista Tippett, host of On Being and author of Becoming Wise

“This is not just a book about having better arguments, it's a manual for building stronger relationships. If families, workplaces, schools, and governments followed Priya Parker’s sage advice, the world would be less of a mess.”—Adam Grant, author of Think Again and Hidden Potential

“Priya Parker offers a generous, radically helpful guide through our divides—without flattening what makes us different.” — Suleika Jaouad, author of The Book of Alchemy

“Insightful and nuanced, The Art of Fighting is a paradigm-shifting examination of how we can get along better by understanding the role of conflict in our lives more deeply.” —Jefferson Fisher, author of The Next Conversation

“This book captures something many of us feel but struggle to name: avoidance is not harmony. The Art of Fighting delivers a sharp, human framework for turning tension into clarity and disagreement into belonging.” —Daniel H. Pink, author of Drive and The Power of Regret