Name: Coup d'état
ISBN: 9780674737266

Coup d'état

"A book that aids understanding how governments and states really work. That aim is pursued by presenting in full detail how a coup d'état would be planned and executed, from the first approach to fellow-conspirators, to the post-coup announcements promising a new era of progress and stability. Coup d' État has continued to find readers around the world--it has appeared in sixteen foreign languages--but with the passage of time, this fully revised new edition became necessary. Even readers who do not plan to use it as a practical handbook will find it interesting, as well as instructive."--Provided by publisher.

What Hacker News says

freedomhonkyFeb 2022

If anybody wants to learn about strategy start with this essay https://antigonejournal.com/2022/02/julius-caesar-hybrid-war... . Also, Edward Luttwak’s books like “Coup d’Etat” and “Grand Strategy of the Roman Empire”

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credit_guyAug 2020

Not a chance. While the "revolution" in Romania 31 years ago started as spontaneous protests was quickly hijacked by an organised clique so it became a coup in a matter of days. The book "Coup d'Etat" [1] lists this "revolution" as a coup in one Appendix. If you ask people in the know in Romania, they'll all agree, they'll even tell you who the key people were.

This thing in Belarus here is no coup, it has no chance to succeed.

[1] https://www.amazon.com/Coup-d%C3%89tat-Practical-Handbook-Re...

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anigbrowlAug 2009

Just studying Marxism is an individual act of revolution. The mental impact on one's mind, when you finally get it, is irreversible. "Class Consciousness" is a revolutionary virus of the mind.

Thank goodness for a healthy mental immune system, then. Proponents of Marxist thought seem to believe that because they've found there's a different way of looking at the world that explains some things better than their default view, it must thus be correct in all respects. Pointing out that one has simply swapped one kind of tunnel vision for another tends to be poorly received. This is not to say the study of Marx is without value, but I'm being a lot kinder to Marxism here than Marxists are towards their perceived 'class enemies'.

Anyway yes, the reading list is underwhelming. 4 works about Mao, but nothing by Mao himself, or by Che Guevara? Disqualifying fail.

On Guerilla Warfare by Mao Tse-Tung

Guerilla Warfare by Ernesto Che Guevara

Coup d'etat: a practical handbook by Edward Luttwak

The Authoritarian Specter by Robert Altermeyer

On the psychology of military incompetence by Norman F Dixon

That should see you through the practical end of things.

48 Laws of Power and other books by Robert Greene are good introductions to political strategy, along with Machiavelli's classic The Prince. A look at the aftermath of the French revolution is probably good idea as well if you intend to retire peacefully.

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