Paul Rice's Book Reviews

Regular Fanatici Paul Rice offers the following book reviews for the benefit of De Bellis Bookstore customers:

The Ancient Greeks by M. I. Finley
Aeneid by Homer (Cliff Notes version)
Celtic Warriors: 400 BC - AD 1600, by Tim Newark
Celtic Warriors: The Armies of First Great Peoples of Europe, by Daithi O'Hogain
Columbia's History of the World edited by John A. Garraty and Peter Gay
The Devils Horsemen: The Mongol Invasion of Europe by James Chambers
Early Roman Armies by Nicholas Secunda (Osprey 283)
Rome's Enemies: Ancient Spanish 218-19 BC by Rafael Trevino Martinez (Osprey 180)
Great Commanders and Their Battles by Anthony Livesey
Ancient Chinese Armies (2): 590-1260 AD by Chris Peers (Osprey 295)
In Search of Genghis Kahn by Tim Severin
MacMillan's Atlas of Irish History by Sean Duffy, Thomas Crean, and Brendan Smith
Making of the Roman Army: Republic to Early Empire by Lawrence Keppie
Pagan Celtic Ireland by Barry Raftery
Roman Army from Caesar to Trajan Osprey Men at Arms #46
Scipio Africanus: Greater Than Napoleon by B. H. Liddell Hart
Tiberius Claudius Maximus: The Legionary by Peter Connolly
The Vikings: Lords of the Seas by Yves Cohat
The Vikings by Howard LaFay
Warfare in the Classical World by John Warry
When Longships Sailed: Vikings AD 800-1100) by Time-Life Books
The Conquistadores (Osprey Men-at-Arms #101)

The Ancient Greeks by M. I. Finley

Simply put, in this 1963 book, Sir Moses Finley history professor at various prestigious universities in the US and UK (including one on the banks of the old Raritan) has described the culture of the ancient Greeks, from about 800 BCE to about 200 CE, emphasizing the fifth through third centuries. His style is rather dry, but remarkably concise and relatively easy to read. He does tend to use Greek terms, most of which he defines before using. If you were to open the book in the middle you might misinterpret a lot. For example, he uses tyrant rather differently than we do now. Less than 200 pages, two maps, and 24 plates. If you are interested in a short summary of all aspects of Greek culture, you could do far worse than to read The Ancient Greeks.

Here is the table of contents.

Who Were the Greeks?
The Dark Age and the Homeric Poems (Periods of Greek History)
Archaic Greece (Colonization, Tyrants and Lawgivers, The Community, Religion and Pan-Hellenism)
The Classic City-State (War and Empire, Athens, Sparta, The Decline of the Polis)
Literature (Poetry, Tragedy, Comedy, Prose)
Science, Philosophy and Popular Morals (Science, Philosophy and Politics, Popular Attitudes and Morals)
The Visual Arts (Architecture and City-Planning, Sculpture, Painting)
The Hellenistic Age (Greek Cities and Absolute Monarchs, Greeks and Romans)
Chronological Table
Notes on the Plates
Bibliography
Index

Great Commanders and Their Battles, by Anthony Livesey

This book covers 20 generals and "their greatest tactical victory":

Alexander the Great -- Battle of Gaugamela (331 BCE)
Scipio Africanus -- Battle of Zama (202 BCE)
Genghis Khan -- Battle of the Indus (1221)
Henry V -- Battle of Agincourt (1415)
Gonzalo de Cordoba -- Battle of the Garigliano (1503)
Gustavus Adolphus -- Battle of Lutzen (1632)
Turenne -- Battle of the Dunes (1658)
Marlborough -- Battle of Oudenarde (1708)
Frederick the Great -- Battle of Leuthen (1757)
George Washington -- Battle of Princeton (1777)
Napoleon -- Battle of Wagram (1809)
Wellington -- Battle of Salamanca (1812)
Robert E. Lee -- Battle of Chancellorsville (1863)
Allenby -- Battle of Beersheba (1917)
Tomoyuki Yamashita -- Battle of Singapore (1942)
Erwin Rommel -- Battle of Gazala (1942)
Erich Von Manstein -- Third Battle of Kharkov (1943)
William Slim -- Battle of Meiktila/ Mandalay (1945)
Dougals MacArthur -- The Inchon Landings (1950)
Moshe Dayan -- The Sinai Campaign (1956)

It is about 200 pages, and the formula is a 1 page bio, 1 page portrait or photo, sidebar on the campaign or war leading up to the battle, sidebar and sketch on his opposing general, sidebar on the aftermath of the battle and its effect on the war, 0-2 sidebars on weapons used with photos or sketches, and 2-4 maps per general; and a few pages of text about the battle itself.

I think the author, like many of the Sandhurst school of thought, shows a bias towards all things English. Of his 20 generals, 5 were English. Of the remaining 15 battles, the English were the main opponent in 3, and the English were instrumental in one more (Dunes). There's also an emphasis on modern times, with 7 being this century. He also fails to escape the "western bubble," as only 2 are from the eastern world. I couldn't do much better, but there have to be more good eastern generals out there.

One of the interesting things is how many of the renaissance generals (15th - 18th century) changed sides. Apparently, loyalty/patriotism was not valued as highly then as now.

Pagan Celtic Ireland by Barry Raftery

Devoted a heavy skim to Pagan Celtic Ireland. It is mainly an archeology book. This was the first book I'd skimmed or read on Ireland which didn't have a bias or agenda. Kudos to Raftery for suppressing his subjectivity.

Raftery draws the conclusion that Ireland was already in the Iron Age when the La Tene Celts arrived, and that the probabilities of the existing Irish populace independently discovering iron working are slim to none. He also observes that the La Tene Celts made little to no impact on the existing culture. So who exactly was already there, and why do we think of Ireland as Celtic? The unstated by implied assumption is that the Hallstatt Celts settled there first, but Raftery has insufficient evidence to draw that conclusion, and so conservatively does not.

If you're interested in the archeological evidence of bronze and iron age Irish Celts, especially hill forts and burial mounds, this is the book for you.

Roman Army from Caesar to Trajan, (Osprey Men At Arms Series #46).

The title is somewhat a misnomer as the timeline starts with the death of Caesar and ends with the ascension of Trajanus. The timeline had 33 entries over 142 years (3 pages). It was a standard Osprey book, mostly focused on the uniforms, armor, and weapons. It features many black and white photos of reconstructions of the equipment. Of course it has the usual full color drawings of 23 troopers. It also gives a little bit of info on recruiting, training, and pay of the armies.

The Vikings by Howard LaFay (National Geographic Society, 1972)

Not all that great. There are better Viking books out there. This book was written about 1974. It is about 35% travelogue of modern Europe; 20% archaeology and 45% history split equally between the Vikings, the Byzantines and the Normans. The author discusses the Normans as direct offspring of the Vikings. He also covers Byzantium, by way of the Varangian Guard, Norse mercenaries who worked their way through Russia into the service of the Byzantine emperor.

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