The Peloponnesian War: Athens and Sparta in Savage Conflict 431-404 BC |
 |
 click here for more details, find new or used items |
Donald Kagan
|
|
Pages: 400 (Paperback)
ISBN: 0007115067
Pub: HarperPerennial
Pub date: 2005-03-07
Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 20961
Reader Reviews:
A model of clarity and exposition A MUST READ! (2/2 people found this helpful)
I bough GATES OF FIRE. I enjoyed.
THEN I went on and bought TIDES OF WAR... and was flabbergasted... what a flop!... I was thoroughly disgusted with Alcibiades and the rest... really I just thought they were mad... but curiosity made me dig on and SO I discovered this book!
This is an History book which reads as the BEST historical fiction (with very little fiction to say the least) but it is also WELL WRITTEN and a model of clarity on a very complex subject...
The author is an academic on the period... but also loves to tell the tale in the most possibly affordable level... I WAS DELIGHTED WITH IT...
and still is in a place of honor on my shelves...
WELL DONE!
ADB
excellant telling of history (1/1 people found this helpful)
this book is very good, having only just started reading books on ancient greece kagen makes it easy and enjoyable to get a feel for the ancient world. it is also uncanny the way politics and battles of this book bring to the for front more recent conflicts with the similarities of how both events started.i guess as a race we really have learned nothing. although a history book this reads like a novel.brilliant.
best book on classical times (18/18 people found this helpful)
This is quite simply the best all-round book for learning about the peloponnesian wars. Kagan manages to combine factual information with a very easy-to-read style.
Maps are numerous and even include maps of the various battlegrounds including ship formations.
Kagan not only narrates the events very well, but also provides his own insights into why some decisions were made, and some of these decisions would appear very bizarre without them.
In all, I can't recommend this book enough. I have a huge interest in ancient times and this is easily the best book i've read.
The best on its subject (11/12 people found this helpful)
I bought this book for my first semester studying Ancient History at university, and it was definitely the best choice- this one book taught me everything you could possibly need to know about the Peloponnesian War, and I found it extremely easy to read. It is not at all monotonous, unlike most historical texts! Kagan writes with depth but doesn't swamp you. I really enjoyed reading his book and it really made me (even more)interested in my subject. Even if you're not studying the subject, and are simply interested, then this is the book for you. Amazing!
Thoroughly Engaging (11/11 people found this helpful)
I am not going to attempt to compete with other reviewers of this book for in-depth analysis, as I could be considered 'relatively new' to book reading.
However, this book provided me with not only an insight into this highly significant ancient conflict, but also into the lives of the individual people at the time of the war.
When I say 'individuals', I am referring to citizens, slaves and the high ranking/status people who were involved in the progression and vital decision taking in the war.
Influential names include Pericles, Cleon, Nicias (peace of Nicias), Cleomenes and Alkibiades from Athens; King Agis, Brasidas, Gyllipus and Lysander of Sparta to the influence of Darius II and his son in funding Sparta's decisive victory at Aegospotamos in 405BC.
Donald Kagan succeeds in avoiding the melodrama and excessive vivid descriptions for the savagery of the battles, and stays with infportant facts and dates which are key to the study of the war.
To conclude, I will say that this is indeed quite deep reading, but it was a very complicated conflict in it's causes and outcomes. However, this was not a culmination from a few decades of rivalry and the author makes clear this fact.
My advice: Lose yourself in this, and the size of the book will not be so daunting.
Similar Products
The GrecoPersian Wars (Paper)
The Punic Wars: Rome, Carthage and the Struggle for the Mediterranean
Thermopylae: The Battle for the West
Categories
Amazon.co.uk places this book into the following categories:
Books -> Subjects -> History -> General
Books -> Subjects -> Study Books -> Undergraduate & Postgraduate -> Arts & Humanities -> Classics & Ancient History -> Ancient Greek