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Review Praise for Tides of War:"Pressfield's attention to historic detail is exquisite, but he shines brightest in his graphic and brutal descriptions
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of battle and its horrific affects on soldier and civilian alike. This novel will remain with the reader long after the final chapter is finished."--Library Journal"Pressfield is a masterful storyteller, especially adept in his graphic and embracing descriptions of the land and naval battles, political intrigues and colorful personalities, which come together in an intense and credible portrait of war-torn Greece."--Publishers Weekly"On every page are color, splendor, sorrow, the unforgiving details of battle, daily life, and of the fighter's lot. Unabashedly brilliant, epic, intelligent, and moving."--Kirkus Reviews "As he did in Gates of Fire...Pressfield serves up not just hair-raising battle scenes...but many moments of valor and valor and cowardice, lust and bawdy humor. Even more impressively, he delivers a nuanced portrait of ancient Athens, complete with political skullduggery, overarching ambitions, and reflections on the nature of leadership and the pitfalls of imperialism."--EsquirePraise for Gates of Fire: An Epic Novel of the Battle of Thermopylae"Pressfield's powerful, historically accurate novel explores Spartan society and the nature of courage without ever losing its narrative momentum."--The New Yorker"A first-rate storyteller with a first-rate story to tell. It is truly epic."--Margaret George, author of The Memoirs of Cleopatra"Intricate and arresting and, once begun, almost impossible to put down."--New York Daily News"Pressfield brings the battle of Thermopylae to brilliant life, and he does for that war what Charles Frazier did for the Civil War in Cold Mountain."--Pat Conroy"Fascinating and exciting...worthy of the top prizes in literature."--Abilene Reporter-News"A tale worthy of Homer, a timeless epic of man and war exquisitely researched and boldly written. Pressfield has created a new classic deserving of a place beside the very best of the old."--Stephen Coonts"An incredibly gripping, moving, and literate work of art."--Nelson DeMilleFrom the Hardcover edition. Product Description Four cassettes, 6 hoursRead by Derek JacobiPlutarch, Plato, and Thucydides have all immortalized Alcibiades (ca. 450-404 b.c.) as a peerless general and conqueror on sea and land, whom the tides of war and fortune always favored. Raised as a ward of Pericles, he was later a protégé of Socrates, and inevitably compared to the legendary Achilles. The destinies of Alcibiades and Athens were inextricably intertwined; the man and the city-state mirrored each other's boldness, ambition, and the fatal flaws that were their undoing. When allied, Alcibiades and Athens were unbeatable. When divided, he led Sparta and Persia to glory. At the end of his life, in exile from all factions, Alcibiades was shunned by his countrymen in their most desperate hour. Athens would rather fall than be led by its most brilliant leader. Narrated by Alcibiades' trusted bodyguard and hired assassin in a mesmerizing death-row confession, TIDES OF WAR is epic historical fiction at its finest--a full-bodied, flesh-and-blood retelling of one of history's pivotal conflicts. From Publishers Weekly Perhaps the Peloponnesian War, which lasted 27 years and featured an epic list of people and places, just doesn't lend itself to the six-hour audio format, for not even renowned Shakespearean actor Jacobi's reading gives this novel the sense of personal drama it requires. Pressfield (Gates of Fire) focuses his story on Alcibiades, the legendary hero whose strength, beauty and courage embodied ancient Greek ideals. An Athenian trained in Sparta, Alcibiades appears divinely well suited to feed his country's hunger for military victories. But democracy in its nascent stage being no less tainted than in its current manifestation, Alcibiades is feared for his popularity and ultimately exiled o
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