Book Reviews and Summaries: War, Strategy and Stoicism
Reviews and summaries of the classic books on war, strategy, power and Stoic self-command, written from the complete text. 6 entries, newest first.
The Art of War
A short, dense set of maxims that holds up on concentration, logistics and spies and dates badly where it turns to omens and the stars.
ReviewsThe Prince
A short, unsentimental manual on winning and keeping a state, built from the Italian rulers Machiavelli dealt with as a Florentine envoy.
ReviewsAnabasis
Xenophon's first-hand account of a Greek mercenary army that loses its generals deep in Persia and fights its way to the sea, then spends its last book on unpaid wages and service under a Thracian prince.
ReviewsThe Officer's Manual: Napoleon's Maxims of War
Seventy-eight numbered maxims, each followed by a commentary note with campaign examples dated from 1644 to 1814.
ReviewsThe Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind
Le Bon argues that crowd members lose their conscious personality and follow whoever supplies images and faith, but he supports the case mostly with anecdote and assertion.
ReviewsMeditations
A Roman emperor's notes to himself on self-command, repetitive in places and most useful where it is most concrete.