Negative Positive
Title: Good primer but details are sometimes fudged to fit theory
Review: This survey of 31 ancient battles is tailored to fit the "lessons learned" or principles of war approach used in traditional military academy texts. It is a handy introduction to the battles in light of the Art of War but the reader should be cautioned that the authors seemed limited to (based on the limited bibliographical lists) secondary sources and these do not usually reflect the latest or most accurate scholarship. This is particularly important regarding ancient military history where the original source material itself has to be cross-checked with many other accounts since ancient authors or editors were so often biased or simply uninformed.If you are looking for a handy review of ancient and dark age battles in general, this is a good place to start. However, if you need to research a particular region or campaign, by all means go to specialist studies and don't limit yourself to those suggested in this survey. Jim Bloom
Is the review positive or negative? 