The Art of War

Not what you would expect

This book has a giant shadow problem. Meaning it dwells in the shadow of Machiavellis other book The Prince. Whereas that book is a masterpiece that will be passed down for the rest of human existence this book is a fart. It's very boring. Its poorly edited with sentences and paragraphs that go on for pages. All to say something that makes no sense unless you have a battlefield map with figures to display what is being said. All the way to, I don't know who is talking in this part. The whole thing is a mess. There are a few wise bits of knowledge but for the majority of the book I dreaded reading more confusing junk that did nothing for me. The Sun Tzu book of the same title is vastly superior to this book. Just show more read that and The Prince. This one will stay on the shadow of those books because that's the way it should be. show less

The work is a completely new translation by Christopher Lynch. His goal was to produce as accurate and faithful translation as the two languages would allow. That job was handled particularly well. There are extensive notes on the translation process and word choice. If you are looking for a very faithful tranlation, this book is for you.

However, it's not for me. I am an avid military history reader and I was looking forward to this book. But, the dense run on sentences that characterize the Italian original makes for tough going.

Lynch begins the book with an extensive introduction that sets the work in context both in Italian politics and in Machiavelli's life. I thought that was quite good.

He (Lynch) ends the volume with an show more interpretive essay that I thought was a bit choppy and is more focused on Machiavelli (no surprise, that's his field). I was hoping for more on the art of war part. This is a facinating book in that it was written by a civilian with very little practical experience in the field. More of a compare/contrast look at how his ideas stacked up against the more conventional masters would have been nice. show less

Ah, yes, I think of this book whenever someone says, "The end justifies the means." A great book on life, love, and war, but not a great philosophy to follow if you are looking for peace.

Somewhat Machiavellian...

Classics

L'Art de la guerre, publié en 1521, occupe une place singulière dans l’œuvre de Machiavel. Présenté sous la forme d'un dialogue, l'ouvrage surprend par son esprit peu machiavélique. Les considérations tactiques y côtoient les propos consacrés aux nécessités matérielles de la guerre (recrutement, armement...), orchestrant avec subtilité une réflexion sur le pouvoir. Quelles limites la politique impose-t-elle à l'art de la guerre ? Comment définir l'autorité ? Ce sont là quelques-unes des questions soulevées par Machiavel qui puise ici ses modèles chez les Anciens. En grand stratège, il omet parfois de répondre. Mais la guerre est une affaire si sérieuse qu'il faut peut-être savoir la manier avec ironie.