Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. Introduction -- 2. A Hostile-Aggressive Trio: Sherman Tanks, Snipers, and Exploders -- 3."And Another Thing . . ." The Complete Complainer -- 4. Clamming Up: The Silent and Unresponsive Person -- 5. Super-Agreeables and Other Wonderfully Nice People -- 6. Wet Blanket Power: The Negativist at Work -- 7. Bulldozers and Balloons: The Know-It-All Experts -- 8. Indecisive Stallers -- 9. Toward Effective Coping: The Basic Steps -- 10. Thinking Styles: An Added Dimension in Coping with Others -- 11. Applying the Methods: Getting a Fix on that Difficult Person; Coping with Your Boss and with Your Own Defensive Behavior.

This book was written because I couldn't find another like it. How such ubiquitous phenomena as Difficult People had gone unnoticed and unexamined by any but acid wits and comic script writers is hard to fathom. Yet the gap existed and it needed to be, and could be, filled.
As a management consultant I have found that most of my clients spend more time talking about how to cope with problem employees, bosses, customers, and co-workers than about anything else. I have also found that there was much that I knew that could help these clients. Through observation and action research during a fourteen-year period, I and my associates had gathered practical information on techniques and methods for coping with Difficult People. It was the absence of any practical and integrated reference material, and repeated requests from the many people who attended our seminars, that set me on the long course of writing a book. I'm lucky that it also turned out to be fun.