There are fantastic resources available about conflict and its mediation. Here are some of our favorites:

The Dynamics of Conflict – a guide to engagement and intervention (2nd edition!!) – Bernard Mayer
Mediating Dangerously: the frontiers of conflict resolution – Kenneth Cloke

These two books have informed our understanding more than any other books on mediation. Kenneth Cloke’s explains omnipartiality and the foundational nature of honesty and empathy. He writes with heart. Bernard Mayer’s book breaks it down with expansive vision. The second edition distills and incorporates the work he’s done since the first – interesting work indeed.

Other great books in the field:

Extreme Facilitation: guiding groups through controversy and complexity – Suzanne Ghais
Difficult Conversations: how to discuss what matters most – Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton, Sheila Heen, & Roger Fisher
Narrative Mediation: a new approach to conflict resolution – John Winslade and Gerald Monk
The Art of Negotiation – Michael Wheeler
Beyond Winning: negotiating to create value in deals and disputes – Robert Mnookin, etal

We also love these books, covering a range of mediating, negotiating, and facilitating styles.

Other great books:

The Ethics of Care: personal, political, and global – Virginia Held
The Ethics of Ambiguity – Simone de Beauvoir
I and Thou – Martin Buber

Books of philosophy that have important implications for conflict, and its resolution.

Carpentaria – Alexis Wright
Gate of the Sun – Elias Khoury
The Stone of Laughter – Hoda Barakat

These novels, all masterpieces of prose, have political fire and all address conflict in ways that open up and ask questions rather than providing trite easy answers.

Nolo Press books!

Makes the law less baffling by making the context of the legal world accessible (if still boring). Every Nolo book we’ve read has been well the worth the time to read it. We particularly found the Neighbor Law, Estate Planning Basics, Small Claims Court, Landlord Legal Guide, and Tenant Legal Guide helpful.