The Anatomy of Error: Ancient Military Disasters and Their Lessons for Modern Strategists
by Barry Strauss, Josiah Ober
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HISTORY-MILITARY/WARTags
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Various vignettes over the course of ancient history featuring many well known battles and participants. The authors necessarily do not go into great detail into each encounter and the personalities as entire books are written on each subject. Nonetheless, sufficient context is provided so that the reader can appreciate the authors' analysis of the factors that led to defeat.
As a fan of ancient history familiar with each of the battles described, I could easily follow the rather cursory summaries provided. Perhaps this would be a bit more difficult for those with no background into the subject matter.
The book flows well and objectively described the various encounters. Further, the authors' analysis of the strategic errors are show more interesting and rarely found standard battle narratives. show less
As a fan of ancient history familiar with each of the battles described, I could easily follow the rather cursory summaries provided. Perhaps this would be a bit more difficult for those with no background into the subject matter.
The book flows well and objectively described the various encounters. Further, the authors' analysis of the strategic errors are show more interesting and rarely found standard battle narratives. show less
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27+ Works 3,449 Members
Barry Strauss is Professor of History and Classics, Bryce and Edith M. Bowmar Professor in Humanistic Studies at Cornell University. He is the author of seven books on ancient history, including The Death of Caesar, The Spartacus War, and The Trojan War: A New History. His books have been translated into eleven foreign languages.
Common Knowledge
- Original publication date
- 1990
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- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 2






















































