Ralph D. Sawyer, noted scholar of Chinese warfare, provides a comprehensive introduction to the essential views, concepts, and tactical principles of military strategy through this translation of classic texts from ancient China. From antiquity, the history of China has been marked by invading tribes, warring states, and popular uprisings. This heritage of conflict produced a body of martial literature exploring the fundamental principles of warfare and their meth… More >>
The Essence Of War: Leadership And Strategy From The Chinese Military Classics
Tags: ancient china, antiquity, classic texts, history of china, military classics, military strategy, tactical principles, uprisings, war leadership, warring states
#1 by weirdo_106 on July 4, 2010 - 10:30 pm
This book is an excellent compilation on Chinese military classics. The material is comprehensive and well organized. The only minor flaw is that it often uses passages from Sun Tzu’s “Art of War” and Sun Pin’s “Military Methods”, which readers may already have in their library. Nevertheless, this is a good book if you don’t already have any other Chinese warfare books.
Rating: 4 / 5
#2 by Econ Student on July 4, 2010 - 10:59 pm
This is a quoation book. Sawyer divides the book into chapters devoted to specific aspects of warfare. Each chapter seems to attempt to distill esential wisdom regarding the nature of the aspects of war by compiling relevant quotations from the original Chinese texts. This makes the book a good source of quotations on the nature of warfare, but it is not coherent thesis on warfare.
Rating: 3 / 5