The Trojan War is one of the great tales of Western culture. If you don't know even the bare bones of it, you are really missing an important bit of cultural literacy. Of course, like many of our ancient stories, we never get to encounter the originals, but rather hear someone's retellings. Well, this isn't anything like an original. Because, really, in addition to "The Illiad", there's been all sorts of tales tied in with the Trojan War. So Ms. Coolidge has taken it upon herself to try and blend all these tales into a single narrative. In my opinion, she's done a pretty good job of it. "The Trojan War" is a 251 page book that tells the tale of the War from the judgment of Paris to the return of Odysseus. I'm tempted to keep this one, but in the end, I can only recommend (highly) that you check it out. The bottom line is that as famous as the story is, the Greek heroes are a bunch of arrogant jerks.
--J. ( )