Tides of War

Rating:
Summary: Complex, Demanding, and Proufoundly Troubling
Review: This is a much more complex and demanding novel than his brilliant and fast moving Gates of Fire (reviewed March 28, 2000). This is also a very sobering novel for any American who assumes that our economic prosperity, our international position of unchallenged leadership and the stability of our political institutions are safe and unchallengeable. Pressfield's novel carries Athens from a position of stunning power and wealth just before the beginning of the Peloponnesian War to its defeat and subjugation to the Spartans after 29 years of conflict.

Athens was so powerful and so wealthy that it could survive a plague that may have killed one-third of its population (brought on probably by the need to crowd inside the city's walls to avoid the Spartan Army) and it could fight off Sparta, most of Greece and the Persians for decades. Pressfield makes vivid the decay of Athenian democracy into a bloodthirsty system of revenge and brutality that helps us better understand our own founding fathers' fears of mob rule, tyranny and direct democracy. He uses the life of Alcibiades, a brilliant general and politician whose victories were undermined by his enemies, as a thread that holds together a generation of war and pain.

This is a slightly demanding book to read but it will profoundly trouble anyone who worries about the human propensity to repeat history rather than learn from it. There is much in this work for any American to think about.

Rating:
Summary: The Drama of Ancient History Revealed
Review: Steven Pressfield has made a cottage industry of the historical novel in much the same way as Michael Shaara. Historical fiction offers wondrous advantages to the writer---after all, who needs to generate story ideas when the lives of our forbears offers all the triumph and tragedy we need?

Pressfield debuted in the genre with the marvelous "Gates of Fire", his account of Spartan King Leonidas' last stand at Thermopylae. With "Tides of War", he returns to ancient Greek history, this time relating the story of Alcibiades, the most accomplished politician, rhetorician, and commander of his day.

Undefeated in battle, Alcibiades dominated the scene during the Pelopponesian War. He commanded and counseled leaders on both the Athenian and Spartan sides in the conflict, earning considerable enmity and admiration in both camps. He trucked with the Persians as well, making him almost unique in the annals of history in his ability to play the political chameleon.

"Tides of War" is told from the perspective of Polymides, Alcibiades' assassin, and his legal counsel. Pressfield succeeds wildly in bringing Thucydides' account of the cataclysmic, 27-year long conflict to life. We recognize these long-dead characters in all their complexity---their loves, hates, and follies. When Polymides is betrayed by his wife, we sympathize; when he is swayed by the charismatic Alcibiades, we empathize. Pressfield makes us care about these characters with his brilliant pacing and dialogue.

If you're a student of history or a fan of historical drama, drink deeply from "Tides of War."

Rating:
Summary: Phenomenal....
Review: Tides of War is very ambitious in its attempt to capture a 27-year struggle between two of the most fascinating civilizations in history. The fact that we have so little information on the era is surely NOT revealed in the book. Pressfield tells this story of war like a modern-day Herodotus.

While the book succeeds in many ways, the greatest feat of the all is in the unbelievably vivid battle descriptions. Like they were made for a movie, they capture not only the physical strain and confusion of combat, but the mental and emotional consequences that come with it. The battles are depicted in a very convincing and tasteful way. I'm a big fan of historical fiction and these are some of the BEST I've ever read.

Also worth praising is the book's all inclusive narration. Its material covers not only the points-of-view of the opposing cities, but it even indulged the reader with a taste of the exotic flavor of the Persian Empire.

Tides of War is clearly an epic. I recommend it to anyone with a strong stomach and passion for history. Five stars.....

Rating:
Summary: if you haven¿t read Gates of Fire yet, start with that
Review: The Tides of War - Steven Pressfield After thoroughly enjoying his previous book, Gates of Fire, about the battle of Thermopylae, I was disappointed in this followup book on Alcibiades and the Peloponnesian War. In the first book, the idea of having a lone survivor tell his story to Xerxes worked well in b oth suspense and dramatic terms. This time, the narrative is given at second and third hand, through the defender of Alcibiades' assassin. The assassin also happens to be one of Alcibiades old friends, but since the book starts while he is awaiting trial, there is no dramatic buildup from this relationship. The multiple narrators work well sometimes,but other times, it just becomes an excuse to quote from Alcibiades or others' journals, piecemeal, interrupting what flow the novel achieves. The background and progression of the Peloponnesian War is not given enough space, so the reader will need to provide this background separately. The two maps are useful, but a third, showing Asia Minor in more detail would be helpful.

The book does have its strengths - as before, the battle scenes are excellent, giving a vivid sense of what it must have been like as a hoplite in these times. One set piece involves a night assault on a fortified hilltop; others depict the all or nothing dicerolls of naval warfare. These are the highlights of the book. (One reason Gates of Fire may be more successful is simply that it devotes ahigher percentage of its story to the tactical bits.) The other major strength is in depicting athe political tentativeness with which all parties worked. Neither Athenians nor Spartans compelled alliaes by their benevolence, and each sought to pull away the other's confederates. Alciabiades is shown to be several steps ahead of his compatriots, managing to survive exile, return and exile by presenting irresistible allures. The greatest temptation is alliance with Persia, which soon reveals itself to be a pact with the devil for whichever side attempts it.

In sum, this is a good book, recommended for anyone with an interest in the period (and there are few enough novels written about this era). The politics and military aspects are excellent, and will get you through the slower plot devices. But, if you haven't read Gates of Fire yet, do start with that.

Rating:
Summary: An Awesome Book!
Review: Mr Pressfield is at his best in this book. The story is compelling and absorbing. The action is non-stop and the description of the battle plans and battles puts goosebumps on your arms. I have read several novels of ancient warfare over the past two years, including Pressfields' Gates of Fire, and hands down this is the best. For sheer drama, action, characters, and just plain old adventure, this book is the best one out there. You will not want to put this baby down and then you will be very upset when you come to the end and there is no more.

Rating:
Summary: Enaging, but uneven and hurried - or unedited?
Review: I agree with the reviewers who say that this is an engaging and fun-filled ride through history, as seen through the eyes of those who lived it.

What I wish to add, and warn about is the uneven quality of the writing. The writer wanders off the road quite frequently in his dialog. Soldiers as well as nobles will speak in near-Dickensonian phrases: long windy sentences, nuancing their terms and using euphemisms and poetic expressions. Then, without warning, the speaker will use gutter terms, and the conversation will linger on matters scatological or sexual. There is no thought for the consistency of the characters' nature, or previous style and manner of speaker. Nor to the reader's sensibilities.

One gets the strong impression of the author showing off his own "enlightened" freedom with such matters. He can neither argue that this is the way people spoke - for the characters are wildly inconsistent - nor that he is rendering their conversations as we would hear them today. But that is not true, either, for those who speak so crudely today are not prone to switching gears and saying "...his carriage does comport to offer such illusions to the sympathetic eye.." in the next breath.

The other possibility is that he is a good reader of history, but a poor writer. He takes his eye off the road, and drives into a ditch every few pages. His use of anachronisms - figures of speech using inventions and habits not yet invented in ancient times - is further evidence of this.

Rating:
Summary: Great Men and Great Times
Review: A complex and layered tale, this one tracks the career of the ancient Athenian leader, Alcibiades, over the course of the 27 year struggle between Athens and Sparta for control of Hellas that was known as the Pelopennesian War. Based largely on Thucydides' "History of the Pelopennesian War," Pressfield here recounts the life and times of this charismatic and compelling kinsman of Pericles through the recollections of the man who was hired by Sparta to assassinate him. In this "as told to" narrative, the killer, awaiting trial, tells his story to a man named Jason who he has asked to speak in his defense. Awaiting his day in the courts of Athens, in the same prison where Socrates sits condemned to death, the assassin, Polemides, recalls his own career and the many times it crossed paths with the brilliant Alcibiades.

In the course of Polemides' tale we get an in-depth look at the ravages and viscissitudes of war as Athens pursued its struggle against the obdurate Spartans who controlled the Pelopennesian Greek heartland and had never been defeated on the battlefield. Like Alcibiades, the Athenians are bold, clever and energetic as they develop and fight for an overseas empire that makes them richer, and stronger militarily, than their stay-at-home Spartan cousins. Into this mix, after famine and plague have laid Athens low while under siege by the Spartans and their allies, steps Alcibiades. He convinces his mercurial countrymen to fund and support a war against the Greek colony of Syracuse in Sicily to the west, thereby outflanking the Spartans. But just as his campaign is getting off to a brilliant start, Alicbiades' enemies at home cause him to be recalled to face charges of sacrilege. Fearing the worst, he bolts to the Spartans.

Without Alicibiades, the Syracusan adventure collapses and the Athenian force is completely routed and destroyed. But Alcibiades soon runs afoul of the Spartans' hospitality, over an indiscretion with their king's wife, and must flee again, this time to Persia. Called home at last by his desperate countrymen, Alcibiades once more takes charge of their war against Sparta, turning the tables on the Pelopennesian city-state in a remarkable series of brilliant military campaigns. But, just as before, Alcibiades' enemies, fearing his growing success and dominance, conspire to undo him. Bringing lawsuits and initiating investigations against him, they prompt the Athenian citizenry to finally turn against Alcibiades by denying him continued funding for the war. After 11 months of continuous victories, Alcibiades sees the handwriting on the wall, realizing that he cannot outlast the Spartans (who are supported by a seemingly endless stream of Persian gold). And so he chucks it all again and quits the field for exile.

Replacing him with a committee of generals (to prevent any one of them from becoming too preeminent as Alcibiades did), the Athenians continue their victories (albeit without Alcibiades' consistency and panache) until a freak, storm after one battle, claims the lives of thousands of their countrymen on the high seas. Recalled to face charges of negligence, the generals of the expedition who cannot flee in time are tried, condemned to death and cruelly executed. Bereft of its best leadership and left with only second- and third-stringers who are afraid to make a move for fear of being similarly condemned by the fickle Athenian populace, Athens at last goes down to defeat before the stolid and stubborn Spartans who are led by the scheming and relentless Lysander, a general who may be Alcibiades' only equal on the battlefield . . . and off.

Alcibiades in exile dreams of a third comeback but the Spartans are set on preventing that. And so Polemides recalls his final charge, to find and slay the man he served with . . . and under . . . a man he had grown to both love and hate by turns. Alcibiades is building a third army of Thracian tribesmen in the north and it is there that Polemides initially goes to find him.

This tale suffers from its complex narrative structure no less than from the complex series of events on which it is hung. Still, despite a slow start, it catches fire and succeeds because of the seriousness and respect with which Pressfield handles it. Reflecting the somewhat formal and distant prose style of the original Greek material on which it's based, it conjures up a period for us that is worth recalling, not least for what it has to say about our own democratic excesses in this early part of the twenty-first century, some 2500 years after the Athenians cut their own throats though envy and political backbiting.

I read somewhere that Pressfield thinks this is his best work to date. Despite the weaknesses in structure, I can see why.

SWM

Rating:
Summary: Excellent 'sequel' to Gates of Fire
Review: After reading Gates of Fire, I was left thirsting for more. Unfortunately there wasn't a sequel and so I had to be content, after reading that amazing novel, to be satisfied with second rate thrillers. Then I saw it, Tides of War and I make no exaggeration when I say I was beside myself. Could this book ever equal a book as great as Gates of Fire? After having read it, I can honestly say it's pretty darn close.

There are differences between the two novels that make comparison difficult though. For instance, there are three layers to the story, whereas Gates of fire was a pretty straightforward read. It's been told by Jason, (one of our narrators) to his grandchild, who is in turn being told the story by Polemides, a client of his who was on trial for the murder of Alcibiades, the hero in our story. This may be a novel way of presenting the story, but at some points it gets to be distracting. For example when there is a shift in the narration from Polemides to Jason (the Grandfather) and then back again, it's like starting and then stopping only to start again. I would have preferred it to just flow, the story is engaging enough, it doesn't need a unique presentation style to catch the reader's attention.

That aside though, the book is a near-masterpiece. If one overlooks whatever minor historical inaccuracies there may be, you will get to appreciate Pressfield's gift of making the dry subject of history come alive. There are alot of memorable passages in the story and Alcibiades, our hero, is not presented as an immortal - who can do no wrong - but as a human who did not let his failures drag him down.

After reading this novel, I felt I had, like Alcibiades, 'dined on dreams'. Read this book.

P.S: Please Mr. Pressfield, write another book on Sparta.

Rating:
Summary: Read Thucydides Instead
Review: I have not read Gates of Fire; and after enduring this clunker, I likely never will. This book drowns from the weight of its gimicky narrative. The "story," ostensibly about Alcibiades, is related by his assassin (Polymides) to his advocate (Jason) to his grandson. While this device, in the hands of a different author, could provide a source of narrative tension, in Pressfield's it fizzles. Jason's and Polymides's voices are identical (and thus confusing); and neither character offers a valuable or interesting perspective on the events described. The grandson is a thinly-disguised hook for hanging "back in those days" expository lumps, and he vanishes after page 3.

The result of filtering the narrative through four layers is to place distance between the reader and the story. There are no "characters" in this book -- only names on a page. They hop from battle to plague to crisis in pretty much the same way that their counterparts in Thucydides do. Except that Thucydides was a witness (and minor moving actor) in the Spartan War. For that reason, I would recommend his history over Pressfield's -- for that is what this book is, history, and nothing more.

Rating:
Summary: Thucydides Anew
Review: Tides of War is far deeper in thought than Gates of Fire. It gives the whole feeling of a lost golden age. Obviously it will not be found by everyone to be as heroic as Gates of Fire, but the characters and the story could certainly pass as very real for our own age.