Customers say
Customers find the book to be an excellent read on both ancient and military history, with one review highlighting its detailed coverage of early and major victories. Moreover, the book receives positive feedback for its readability, with customers describing it as well-written and interesting. Additionally, customers appreciate the leadership content, with one review noting the comparison of ancient history’s three greatest captains. However, the book receives mixed feedback about its repetition rate, with several customers finding it excessive.
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A quick rundown of this product’s key features:
Bestselling author and historianBarry Strauss compares the way the three greatest generals of the ancient world waged war and draws lessons from their experiences that apply on and off the battlefield.
Alexander, Hannibal, Caesar—each was a master of war. Each had to look beyond the battlefield to decide whom to fight, when, and why; to know what victory was and when to end the war; to determine how to bring stability to the lands he conquered. Each general had to be a battlefield tactician and more: a statesman, a strategist, a leader.
Tactics change, weapons change, but war itself remains much the same throughout the centuries, and a great warrior must know how to define success. Understanding where each of these three great (but flawed) commanders succeeded and failed can serve anyone who wants to think strategically or who has to demonstrate leadership. In Masters of Command Barry Strauss explains the qualities these great generals shared, the keys to their success, from ambition and judgment to leadership itself.
Our Top Reviews
Reviewer: The Colonel
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Who’s Da Man?
Review: Barry Strauss has given us a concise overview and comparison of ancient history’s three greatest captains. As a field artilleryman who served for 30 years with 12 years overseas including a combat tour in Vietnam followed by 12 years as a high school history teacher, I thoroughly enjoyed “Masters of Command.” I applaud Barry’s efforts in producing this slim, yet informative, volume.In my Military History classes, we spent quite a lot of time on Alexander, Hannibal, and Caesar during our study of ancient warfare. As a culminating “Who’s Da Man” exercise, I would divide the class into three groups and instruct them to convince the rest of the class that their general was the greatest. Their presentations were quite lively, always humorous, and often insightful. I was thus glad to see that Barry shared with us his view as to who was the “fairest of them all.” My personal choice is Hannibal because he did so much with so little for so long with virtually no support from home.My only criticism is with his organization and the chapter headings he used for comparisons. I just felt uncomfortable with his five stages. I feel that he should have included “preparation” as a stage before “attack” and he should have used different terminology for “closing the net” and “knowing when to stop.”Anyone interested in ancient military history should include “Masters of Command” in their reading program.
Reviewer: RTM
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Important Lessons in Leadership
Review: Professor Strauss presents some important lessons and perspectives on strategy and leadership, based on selected military campaigns of Alexander the Great, Hannibal, and Julius Caesar. Strauss organizes this complex subject into chapters based on five phases: Attack, Resistance, Clash, Closing the Net, and Knowing When to Stop. Each of the three military commanders is evaluated on their performance with each phase. Strauss’ writing skills are excellent, and he gives readers concise yet descriptive accounts of the major battles, as well as some useful context. Strauss identifies each commanders’ outstanding strengths, as well as serious weaknesses, providing lessons which are still relevant today. My only caution for prospective readers is that they will enjoy this book more if they have a basic knowledge of ancient history from 350 BCE to 40 BCE.
Reviewer: derrick
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: starts out enjoyable, percise, and brisk, but ends up plodding along at the end
Review: This is a very interesting read. The author is taking on the dual challenge of presenting three very familiar historical characters in a fresh way and detailing what he believes to be the five universal stages that take place in all great conflicts and are mastered by all great leaders. The three leaders are Alexander the Great, Hannibal of Carthage, and Julius Caesar. The author follows their military careers as they embark on campaigns that, although separated by at least a century each, all pass through the same five stages. The stages are: attack (in which the campaign is launched and the commander gets his first swift victory), resistance (in which the enemy, now expecting you, attempts to push you back), clash (in which you meet the enemy’s full force with your full force), closing the net (in which you crush what is left of the enemy), and knowing when to stop (in which you decide that you have accomplished your objectives and end the campaign).The narration through the first three of these stages is first-rate. The details are delivered briskly and are explained thoroughly. The reader gets a good understanding of the course of the campaigns and good details about the early and major victories that each commander experienced.But after that, the last two chapters of the book feel like they are just plodding along. After explaining each commander’s major victory, it is like the author just ran out of steam. He dutifully records the rest of the engagements that the commanders battled in, tells of their successes, failures, and sidetracks, but the detail that he infused into the first half of the book is gone. The book that started out as such a treat ends up being something less than great.I am glad I read the book. I especially walk away with a better understanding of Hannibal. And the author’s analysis at the end of the book is very good. If you a history buff, you will like the book. It’s worth the read. But don’t say I didn’t warn you about the second half.
Reviewer: Alejandro
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Highly recommended
Review: Great reading. With this book, Barry Strauss has won my admiration and of course I will be getting more of his books.If you’re interested in military history, this book will be perfect.
Reviewer: Abba
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Pure knowledge and strategy!
Review: Strategy, strategy and more strategy! That is what this book is all about.What can be more important than knowing the qualities of those three commanders, I will not call them great for they were all killing machines, knowing what distinguished them, what was so unique about their leadership styles, how they lead men in the most difficult times and in foreign lands and how they won victories over enemies that outnumbered them in every aspect.The author style is magnificent, in literature, narration, and knowledge to be gained, his style is unique as he jumps in a delicate sequence from one to the other, he acknowledges that war has five stages and develops the book around that by expanding, comparing and showing where each one of the three failed and/ or succeeded. Following each chapter and topic there is a prologue with examples of full and detailed battles with full demonstration of the tactics surrounding them, from the leader’s decision making process, positioning the army, choosing the terrain, etc.…This is an invaluable book, intensively rich with numerous lessons to be learned and knowledge to be acquired!
Reviewer: Kumar
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Great book for those interested in the greeko military tactics, and also gives a great insight between the strategy’s of these great commanders.
Reviewer: Martinus
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: A detailed analysis off three of the great commanders of ancient history namely, Alexander the Great, Hannibal Brca and Julius Caesar. The tactical, strategic and political skills of these three commanders are ably compared and constructed in a readable and well research mannet. I enjoyed this book immensely.
Reviewer: Susan
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: He loves it
Reviewer: Kronemeyer
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Barry Strauss storytelling is great. His describtions and way of writing make ancient history come to life.
Reviewer: Tina Coronis
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: An in-depth comparison of the different qualities of three great leaders. A text book for ambitious learners.
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