Gods of War

“Gods of War presents an ideal pairing of famous military opponents in history, especially their complementary strengths and weaknesses and what dramatic circumstances made them face each other at decisive moments. Anyone who thinks we already know the stories and have fully read the minds of great commanders such as Napoleon and Wellington, Grant and Lee, Hannibal and Scipio, Caesar and Pompey, Richard I and Saladin, and Patton and Rommel, will be surprised and fascinated. Reminiscent of the classic Plutarch’s Lives from the Greeks and Romans but rightly including modern commanders, Lacey’s and Murray’s keen insights are carefully drawn from lifelong military experience and well thought-out analyses. Famous battle outcomes are thus familiar yet often novel, even in appreciation of the long and comprehensive literature of military history. The quick pace but panoramic view hold our attention rapt.”—Patrick Hunt, author of Hannibal and Ten Discoveries That Rewrote History
 
“This compelling study of military leadership analyzes history’s most prominent generals, who fought each other in major campaigns and battles dating from the third century B.C. to World War II. In a key finding, the operational and tactical brilliance of such commanders as Hannibal, Napoleon, Robert E. Lee, and Erwin Rommel could not overcome their strategic failures in confrontations with Scipio, Wellington, Grant, or the Allied commanders in the 1940s, who had a better grasp of strategy.”—James M. McPherson, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era

“A stylish and intriguing survey of showdowns between ‘military geniuses’ . . . Brisk recaps of the Battle of Arsuf in the Third Crusade, the Battle of Austerlitz in 1805, and Grant’s Overland Campaign in the Civil War, among other clashes, include colorful details and memorable quotations from the outsize personalities involved. . . . Military history buffs will be enthralled.”—Publishers Weekly

“[An] expert mixture of lively nuts-and-bolts descriptions of combat and opinions on why some legendary generals won their wars and others did not.”—Kirkus Reviews