New History of the Peloponnesian War by Donald Kagan (PDF)

Description

A New History of the Peloponnesian War is an ebook-only omnibus edition that includes all four volumes of Donald Kagan’s acclaimed account of the war between Athens and Sparta (431–404 B.C.): The Outbreak of the Peloponnesian War, The Archidamian War, The Peace of Nicias and the Sicilian Expedition, and The Fall of the Athenian Empire. Reviewing the four-volume set in The New Yorker, George Steiner wrote, “The temptation to acclaim Kagan’s four volumes as the foremost work of history produced in North America in the twentieth century is vivid. . . . Here is an achievement that not only honors the criteria of dispassion and of unstinting scruple which mark the best of modern historicism but honors its readers.”All four volumes are also sold separately as both print books and ebooks.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐An outstanding history of a long ago war, that in the space of 27 years plus a few days manages to duplicate many if not all of the human actions leading to war, fighting the war, and yes “fighting” the peace. We see peace makers who see what they want to see instead of what is happening (Nicias not peace in our time before WWII or recent actions with Iran). We see the trial of the eight generals after the victory at Arginusae perhaps replicated in current military political correctness, leaders making decisions for personal gain or loyalty and not for what is best for the state (Nicias in Sicily or McNamara in Vietnam). All in all this should be required reading for all national leaders or those who aspire to those positions.This history is not just a repeat of Thucydides and Xenophon, but the author combines other ancient authors (such as Diodorus, Plutarch and Greek poets) but also archeological evidence. He clearly presents his opinions and shows where (and why) he disagrees (or agrees) with other historians. The book summaries and the conclusion of each book are invaluable.Finally, the history is frankly just a good read.This was the part of the review pertaining to the content, the kindle version is replete with errors, mostly OCR problems. In general one can figure out what words were left out (rarely this happened) or copied wrong or combined wrong) it is frustrating and is worse in the last two books, and lends an air of doing cross word puzzles to the reading. However, the kindle version is relatively inexpensive and it is nice to have all four books of the history combined into one ebook version. Hopefully at some point Amazon will fix these issues and we can download an updated copy. However, this is probably not going to be a best seller so it might not be worth the cost to Amazon, a pity.

⭐The first volume is a great history.This omnibus edition only has the table of contents for the first book in the overall history. Sloppy.

⭐I think for most general-interest readers, the one-volume condensed version of this masterwork will suffice. That said, this 4-volume magnum opus is excellent. It’s well written in accessible prose, and the author is at pains to reach beyond Thucydides alone to consult other ancient sources, thereby rounding out the incomplete or inexplicable parts of Thucydides. I learned a lot I didn’t previously know about this “Great War between Athens and Sparta. Highly recommended.

⭐In terms of the quality of the book, there are people far more intelligent than me with more sophisticated opinions. In my reading, there are arguments Kagan makes that are very compelling, and others where I think he speculates too much. What he does do without controversy, in my opinion, is take an ancient work that sometimes assumes the reader’s knowledge of past Greek history, and put the whole story line in modern language, well-organized, and easy to understand. As a student, I couldn’t ask for more.On the quality of this Kindle version, I’ve seen very few problems of format and the like. Plus, it’s all four volumes for a fairly low price!

⭐The books are excellent, the bundle is fantastic value and for anyone interested in ancient greek military history these books are required reading. The three stars are solely because of the technical defincies of the kindle version i.e. The contents list only encompasses the first volume and the spelling errors in volume 4 are atrocious. In fact they detract so significantly that what should be 5 stars becomes 3 and you may consider buying them individually

⭐On the positive side, Kagan’s work is masterful. On the negative side this kindle edition put out by Cornell University Press is truly terrible, one of the worst jobs I have ever seen. By the time I got to volume four I was counting as many as twenty eight typos per page. Surely a major University Press could do better. Cornell surely isn’t doing Mr. Kagan any favors with this e-book. Do not waste your money, find a hardback instead.

⭐I started reading this as a sample which was quite long and it hooked me. It is interesting, concise and scholarly. I don’t know why we spend so much time comparing the USA with Rome, when Athens is much more relevant as a model, especially considering its short life and quick fall. Athens was great and became arrogant. Hubris will not be tolerated. It is great to have this on my kindle.

⭐I wish I had bought the hard copy edition. The Kindle edition suffers from too many typos and formatting errors.

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