The Art of Fighting: The Transformative Power of Conflict
The Art of Fighting: The Transformative Power of Conflict
by Priya Parker
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About the Book
“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.
Published on Sep 8, 2026
About the Author
PRIYA PARKER is a facilitator, strategic advisor, and acclaimed author of The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters. Trained in the field of conflict resolution, Parker has worked on race relations on American college campuses and on peace processes in the Arab world, southern Africa, and India. She studied organizational design at MIT, public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, and political and social thought at the University of Virginia. She lives with her family in Brooklyn, NY.
Editorial Reviews
“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
“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