![]() ![]() But it tells the history of the epic war between Athens and Sparta - it is geo-politics, it’s strategy, it’s leadership, it’s lessons in grief, rhetoric, and persuasion. History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides. I won’t lie to you, this is a long book. In fact, his epitaph makes no mention of his plays - which are now considered some of the best ever written - and instead highlight his bravery in battle against the Persians. People also forget that Aeschylus, known to us mostly as a great writer, actually thought of himself as a soldier. From Euripides’ Trojan Women, which shows what happened to the innocent citizens of Troy after the Greeks pierced the city gates with their Trojan Horse, to Aeschylus’ Seven at Thebes (the battle between the sons of Oedipus, which reads like a video game), and The Persians, which tells of the massive defeat at Marathon and Salamis from the perspective of Xerxes, these are stunning works of art. Greek Tragedy by Aeschylus, Euripides, and Sophocles. There is no better reminder of the horrors of war than the work of these playwrights. Xenophon was a student of Socrates and philosophy so this book is a chance to see those teachings in action. All sorts of wonderful tactical thoughts and stories of leadership and bravery are shown in their journey home. Xenophon is elected to be a leader of the troops and encourages them to fight their way home. They win the battle but Cyrus is killed in the fighting, stranding the entire Greek force thousands of miles and dozens of hostile countries from home. In 400 BC, 10,000 Greeks are hired as mercenaries by Cyrus the Younger in his attempt to steal the Persian throne. Note: I have them roughly organized by chronology and era but feel free to skip around. I’m sure I’ll miss some great books you’ve loved, so please suggest them in the comments. I’m certainly not recommending every book about war ever written, or even every book I’ve read on the subject, but instead a collection of the most meaningful. What’s the point? What matters is what we can take from them and apply to our own lives and society. They do not - despite what the History Channel and school teachers try to make you think - pertain to flanking movements, or dates, or locations. Each book is about a different civilization, a different set of tactics, a different cause. This is a post about the canon of books about war. We must understand and respect the darkness and the consequences: pain, death, evil, greed. It is death, fear, power, love, adrenaline, sacrifice, glory, and the will to survive.Īs Virgil put it, “the sword decides all.” We must learn how: the strategy, the motivation, defenses. The study of war is the study of life, because war is life in the rawest sense. A new generation has come home and has written (and is still writing) powerful books about the counterinsurgency in Iraq and Afghanistan. The American Empire is no different - our men came home and wrote about the Civil War, about the Spanish-American War, about WWI, about WWII. ![]() Rome was built by war and literature, and the world has been influenced by that ever since. ![]() Thucydides, our first great historian, wrote about the Peloponnesian War - the great war between Sparta and Athens. ![]() Homer’s epic poems are about war - first, ten years of battle against Troy and then ten years of battle against nature and the gods. Some of our most powerful literature is either overtly about war or profoundly influenced by it (e.g. The greats have been writing and reading about war - its causes, its effects, its heroes, its victims - since the beginning of written text. But in it, men are often brave, loyal, and selfless. War is often the result of greed, stupidity, or depravity. Yet, paradoxically, it is in war that men - individual men - often show the very best of themselves. War is unquestionably mankind at his worst. Editor’s Note: This is a guest post from Ryan Holiday. ![]()
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