» Thermopylae: The Battle For The West

Thermopylae: The Battle For The West Reviews

Customer Rating:
Summary: A different aproach
Comment: I like books like these, written by persones that actually lived great events and bring us a piece of those events in the form of a more human perspective, a less concerned with bilions of facts and cold proves perspective. Bradford tell us about Thermopylae, but also about those little aspects that build the legend and make the easier connection to much of our own culture.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Thermopylae the Battle for the West: great for the researcher
Comment: As I was strolling through the book store and couldn't find a book that suited me for my school project, I decided to check out the history section. I then I saw this book Thermopylae the Battle for the West. I had done a report on this battle not long ago, but not in much detail. So I decided that I would check it out and give it a try. After getting about forty pages in I started to realize that this is not the book to read for fun. It is extremely interesting and the author definitely knows about what he is writing, and this is definitely the book to read if you have to research the subject.

This book goes into detail about everything that has remotely anything to do with the Greek and Persian relationship leading up to the war and the battle between the two empires, but does not cover in detail the actual battle of Thermopylae in that great of detail. It has 240 plus pages about such things as the bridges the Persian Empire built to the history and relationships of the Greek City States. As a reader with no projects to do on the battle or research papers to write, I found it very interesting but I would only pick it up for thirty minutes every other day I found it hard to keep everything straight. That could be contributed the fact that I have no real knowledge of the history leading up to the battle (which Ernle Bradford covers in great detail).

On the other hand if I was to be writing a research paper on the subject I would have struck gold. The book has a complete Index in the back of the book. This book is also extremely organized, not like some other history books I have read that start on one subject and lead into another and then link back to the previous subject. You will not find anything like that in this book. Thermopylae the Battle for the West Also includes quotes from people of the time which could be very useful.

Partially I decided to read this book in response to seeing the movie "300", which I though was one of the best movies I have ever seen. Seeing as I think that I am not the only one read this after viewing the movie I'm going to compare it. The movie puts the emphasis on the glory of the battle where this book puts the emphasis on the history of it. Also in the movie many think that they got all of the facts. When in reality they only see part of the facts, and this book explains why the battle happened. It also covers that famous scene from the commercials where the Persian messenger is kicked into a well and Leonidas yells "This Is Sparta!". The book says that it actually happened and goes into more detail about that incident.

I only had one regret with this book, and it's that I didn't read it faster. After reading this I am now much more educated on Greeks and Persians, and equipped with the knowledge needed to write a paper on the battle if I was to in the future. I recommend this book to all researchers out there and maybe even the casual reader only if they read it in reasonable time period and not over two months like me. I also encourage those movie goers who loved the movie to check out this book.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Very good read!
Comment: The book was very thorough and covered the subject very well. Each chapter was broken down into ten pages or less and each one took on a very specific subject, perfect for a light reading on the subject. It would have been nice to have some breakdown of the individuals in the beginning, because there are many and at times I had to back track to see who was who and what they had done. More maps, especially later when the details of where ships are sailing or troops are moving, maybe a map at the beginning of each chapter to help keep things moving without breaking the reading momentum.

Overall, a good read, and I enjoyed it very much.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Who you side with, says who you are
Comment: "it was the natural human tendency to elevate the battle at the hot Gates to an almost superhuman dimension and, having done so, to let the purpose of it be forgotten."

"Even the self-perpetuating bureaucracy of our modern Western, self-styled 'democratic', world would have seemed to the Spartans who died at Thermopylae an unacceptable thing."

There lies the moral of the whole story. It is not just a military history, it is a story of peoples choosing sides. Pushed to the brink were you have to choose what is really worth dying -and living- for. Here are the options that people (yesterday and today) consider before committing themselves to a country/party/policy/, etc. What would we fight for today? How much would you be willing to give up in the face of threats? Today we don't consider the real issues because wee don't see our lives threatened.

This book shows us what the people considered worth fighting for. Today things haven't changed, and that's what makes this book so relevant (besides well-written): we have today so much "noise" coming from the media and our elite classes (academia/bureaucratic establishment) that prevents us from listening to our own hearts when it comes to making sound and fundamental decisions.

Put yourself in the sandals of a Spartan or an Athenian in 5th century BC. and where would you stand? What would you live/die for?

The book covers Thermopylae, Salamis and Plataea.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: East versus West
Comment: I found the author gave a very good background to the story of Thermopylae. It is hard to add much to an event that took place nearly 2500 years ago but his description of the world picture and the battle were able to transport you to another level. He delim=neates the real reason for the importance of the battle the domination of the East over the West or Asia over Europe. I found the work well worth my time.

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