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Technical progress, by increasing man's control over inanimate nature, has thereby also increased tremendously his power over his fellow men. It is therefore not only timely but fruitful to attempt an analysis of past and present sociological scenes in terms of man's power over man. In this book the author is 'concerned to prove that the fundamental concept in social science is Power, in the same sense in which Energy is the fundamental concept in physics. Like energy, power has many forms, such as wealth, armaments, civil authority, influence on opinion. No one of these can be regarded as subordinate to any other, and there is no one form from which the others are derivative. The attempt to treat one form of power, say wealth, in isolation, can only be partially successful, just as the study of one form of energy will be defective at certain points, unless other forms are taken into account. Wealth may result from military power or from influence over opinion, just as either of these may result from wealth. The laws of social dynamics are laws which can only be stated in terms of power, not in terms of this or that form of power.' The book is a survey of different forms of power, illustrated by examples from world history and by considerations of philosophies and ethics of power. In the range of choice of examples the author's broad knowledge of these fields and his clarity of understanding are apparent. They covey a rare sweep of outlook.
The problem is dealt with in terms of social behavior. The will to power is recognized as only one of the important human motivations but together with its complement, submissiveness, the most significant for social problems. The book is a distressing chronicle of man's inhumanity to man but the nature and source of this phenomenon are not thoroughly or explicitly discussed. The