Helpful Score: 1
It's actually a history of the entire Greco-Persian war of 480BC, and some of the history surrounding it. This was written by a WW2 military man, not a historian, and given his comments on ancient bureaucracy, didn't make it up into the top echelons of the military. Very readable and interesting. He throws in several rather dated perspectives, such as Greek culture being superior to Persian culture, and talking about the hot-tempered Greek personality several times. However, he takes pains to show the Persians in a favorable light, and explains how if conditions had been a little different, the Persians may have been successful.
Written in 1980 by an ex-naval person, it actually covers all 5 battles (including Salamis and Sicily) fought during the Persian invasion of 480-479. (there probably isn't enough historical evidence to write about any one battle) I was pretty captivated by his writing, although he obviously isn't a professional historian, and probably didn't have a very forceful editor going over his manuscript. He did a pretty good job of trying to get into the heads of all the parties involved. Also, every place he mentioned you could find on a map that was in the book.
Purchased this book after seeing the movie, 300, to learn more of the actual facts of the event. Enjoyed the quick, historical account based on Herodutus's writings. About 3/4 of the way through it, I got a little tired of the subject matter, but the book itself was great.
Very good book.
