Rating: 
Summary: A delighting pleasure
Review: One can address to a classic book like this from Xenophon in many ways. As an historical analyst, as an epic lover, as a thriller seeker as a war lessons teacher and many others. No matter what you are looking for, I recommend to read it as a pleasure itself. If you are able to moved yourself away to that time, and really feel your are in their boots, you will be thrilled to bits. Change your rol from Xenophon to a plain soldier (in the middle an hostile land, surrounded by enemies and without information of the land you are in). Do you feel better?. Can you imagine a better plot for a novel or a film?. In this case you don't need to add on "based on a true story".
Rating: 
Summary: When are they going to make a film of it?
Review: Persian Wars between Greeks and Persians had ended a century ago -and were told by Herodotus. Athens and Sparta fought between themselves afterwards, in the Peloponnesian War that ended with the defeat of Athens -so Thucydides told us. Having fought so much, the Greeks became terrific soldiers that hired themselves as mercenaries. A group of them were engaged by a Persian prince called Cyrus to try to oust his brother Artaxerxes fron the throne of Persia. Among them goes Xenophon. Cyrus dies in battle and suddenly, thousands of Greeks find themselves far from home, in the middle of enemy land, as a defeated army. They can't go backwards, so they have to follow the river, Northward, pursued relentlessly by the Persian army, going through territories full of wild tribes, climbing high mountains, with snow storms...
Some moments are as exciting as the withdrawal of the Napoleonic Grand Armée from Russia: a defeated army ploughs its way through snow, desperate, suffering. It's very moving when the soldiers discover the sea from the top of a hill -the Black Sea- they embrace each other, they cry together because they know that the most difficult part of the journey has ended. And the most interesting part, too, that's why I just put three stars, the last quarter is very boring.
I like this book because it's very entertaining report of a historical feat of arms, what happended to a Greek army in the lands that nowadays are Turkey, Irak, Iran and Armenia. A good thing about historical books is that they make you realize that, for instance, Turks and Iranians are Moslems but not Arabs, and that they've got thousands of years of history and civilization in common with Mediterranean Europe. I can't forget that Philosophy was born in Jonia (Asia Minor- Turkey now), and it was a part of the Roman Empire, that becanme more romanized than Northern Spain, for instance -Not to mention Great Britain!. We should be able to find a common future in peace and harmony, but that, of course, is a different history.
I just can't believe nobody has made a movie from this book!
Rating:
Summary: Xenophon's Anabasis
Review: The word anabasis means military advance, or journey. And what a journey this was for 10,000 Greek mercenaries, who have to get out of Persia after their expedition goes wrong! This was an exciting true-life adventure story, better than any fictional one. If you like adventure or military stories, you'll enjoy this. A little knowledge of contemporary Greek history is helpful, but not necessary to enjoy this very readable translation.
Rating:
Summary: Simply Brilliant !
Review: This is a brilliant book - it is about leadership, covers a real life adventure, is written in a very easy chatty style and provides an insight into life in 4th century B.C.I highly respect Peter Drucker and in his interview in Business 2.0 he mentioned that he learnt the most about leadership from Xenophon's books. And I had to read this book! The introduction is a little boring but once the real story begins it is hard to put down, my third day I finished this book at 3 AM in the morning. One of the best books, I have ever read ( I read a lot!!!)
Rating: 
Summary: Movie of Anabasis
Review: While I have not yet read Anabasis, I intend to, and will revise this review when I have. However, there IS a filmed version of Anabasis. Walter Hill's 1979 `The Warriors' uses Anabasis as its basis. Heh...be warned, its not the Greeks and the Persians, but it IS enjoyable.
Rating:
Summary: Movie of Anabasis
Review: While I have not yet read Anabasis, I intend to, and will revise this review when I have. However, there IS a filmed version of Anabasis. Walter Hill's 1979 `The Warriors' uses Anabasis as its basis. Heh...be warned, its not the Greeks and the Persians, but it IS enjoyable.
Rating:
Summary: A Military Classic that's also a good adventure story
Review: Xenophon wrote several books that survive: "A History of My Times" and "Cavalry Tactics" to name two, but the one he's most famous for, and arguably the best read is "Anabasis". A detailed accounting of moving 10,000 troops through hostile country, ulimately extracting them back to Greece. The fact that this is a "Classic" shouldn't put off any readers who've plodded through ancient literature. Xenophon wrote in an informal style, with much detail about the areas and peoples he encountered. It's almost as much travel story as a study in military leadership; but it IS ultimately a recounting of leadership under the most deadly conditions.
There are some timeless lessons here for military and civilian leaders. Xenophon fully explains his decisions (when he can), and ALWAYS asks for advice from other generals. This was critically important in an army of mercenaries whose loyalty was to themselves. Getting other leaders to "buy into" his decisions gave them a sense of empowerment (to use TQM jargon) and a stake in the outcome. He tries to be fair and cares for his troops-though he doesn't hesitate to risk lives if the mission calls for it. In battle he uses what might be termed asymmetric warfare: always pitting Greek strengths against enemy weaknesses; avoiding fighting the way his enemy fights best.
This is a great memoir of an amazing feat of arms and personal leadership. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: A Military Classic that's also a good adventure story
Review: Xenophon wrote several books that survive: "A History of My Times" and "Cavalry Tactics" to name two, but the one he's most famous for, and arguably the best read is "Anabasis". A detailed accounting of moving 10,000 troops through hostile country, ulimately extracting them back to Greece. The fact that this is a "Classic" shouldn't put off any readers who've plodded through ancient literature. Xenophon wrote in an informal style, with much detail about the areas and peoples he encountered. It's almost as much travel story as a study in military leadership; but it IS ultimately a recounting of leadership under the most deadly conditions.
There are some timeless lessons here for military and civilian leaders. Xenophon fully explains his decisions (when he can), and ALWAYS asks for advice from other generals. This was critically important in an army of mercenaries whose loyalty was to themselves. Getting other leaders to "buy into" his decisions gave them a sense of empowerment (to use TQM jargon) and a stake in the outcome. He tries to be fair and cares for his troops-though he doesn't hesitate to risk lives if the mission calls for it. In battle he uses what might be termed asymmetric warfare: always pitting Greek strengths against enemy weaknesses; avoiding fighting the way his enemy fights best.
This is a great memoir of an amazing feat of arms and personal leadership. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Retreating in style: A classic by a very fine writer
Review: Xenophon's Anabasis is a classic tale of adventure, and a model of precise style on par with the more familiar works of Roman authors like Julius Caesar (De bello gallico) and Tacitus (Germania). Like Caesar, he uses simple, straightforward language, and the language reflects the character of the man who helped lead 10,000 Greek mercenaries through hostile territory: a man of clear values, determination, ambition, and a strong sense of honor. With Tacitus he shares an interest in odd details and in strange customs of foreign people: "a four days' march of sixty miles took him to the river Chalus, which was a hundred feet in breadth and full of large tame fish which the Syrians regarded as gods and would not allow anyone to harm them. (They think the same way about pigeons.)". Xenophon's story has an immediacy and clarity that is truly amazing given the fact that he wrote it down 30 years after the events took place, and that we read it today, almost 2,400 years later. The Italian writer Italo Calvino captured the vivid yet factual tone of the Anabasis very nicely when he remarked that reading the book today "is the nearest thing to watching an old war documentary which is repeated every so often on television or on video." (Calvino's essay can be found in his collection of essays "Why Read the Classics?") Although the story is a never-ending succession of visual details and action, it is never boring. Xenophon writes succinctly, sprinkles small anecdotes, portraits of soldiers, speeches, and interesting details over the text, and peppers the story with exotic details. Certain passages of the Anabasis reminded me of Hemingway's "A Moveable Feast". Especially in the way both authors employ visual images and celebrate the qualities of food. Hemingway enjoys "the oysters with their strong taste of the sea and their faint metallic taste that the cold white wine washed away, leaving only the sea taste and the succulent texture"; Xenophon reminisces that "going forward, then, they arrived at the villages where the guides told them they could get supplies. There was plenty of corn there and date wine, and a sour drink made form boiled dates. As for the dates themselves, the sort which one sees in Greece were set aside for the servants, while the ones reserved for the masters were choice fruit, wonderfully big and good looking. Their colour was just like amber, and they used to dry some of them and keep them as sweets." The big difference, however, is that the aging Hemingway recreated the joy of his best years in Paris whereas the old Xenophon wrote an account of the most challenging weeks of his life. Xenophon is not only a very fine writer, he is also a man whose writing reveals his ethics. As it befits the writer who does not want to hit his readers on the head with a sermon, his morality is implicit in the style in which he writes, and in the tone of his story. Xenophon is not a sufferer, nor is he a stoic. He is an officer, a professional soldier. Xenophon's morality is that of a man of action who decides on right and wrong by looking at what he needs to do in order to master a given situation: "what we have to do is to surmount our difficulties like brave men, not to give in, but to try, if we can, to win honour and safety by victory." Italo Calvino sensed in this attitude a precursor to the modern ethic of perfect technical efficiency, but in my opinion, Xenophon's ethics are more informed by a sense of commitment to the men he commands and the gods he respects. Xenophon strives to do his job well in order to generate discipline, solidarity and trust among his men, which is necessary not only for surviving the hardships of the journey but also for keeping one's dignity. He knows the psyche of his soldiers ("when people are not trusted, their words, I notice, merely drift about without force in themselves and without inspiring confidence in others") and he knows how to motivate them ("there will be a great rise in their spirits if one can change the way they think, so that instead of having in their heads the one idea of 'what is going to happen to me?' they may think 'what action am I going to take?'"). Even if one can not enjoy Xenophon's qualities as a storyteller, or if one does not agree with his ethics, the Anabasis is still a fine example of how literature can give style and sense to a military debacle and a desperate adventure which, being a retreat after a defeat, is not honorable or heroic in itself....
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