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Persian Fire: The First World Empire and the Battle for the West
Tom Holland
€ 16.99
€ 13.12
FREE Delivery in Ireland
Description for Persian Fire: The First World Empire and the Battle for the West
Paperback. A brilliant new account of the world's very first clash of civilisations between the Persians and the Greeks in 480BC. Num Pages: 448 pages, Section: 16, colour. BIC Classification: 1QDAG; HBJD; HBLA. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 197 x 129 x 30. Weight in Grams: 364.
'Magisterial... told with great authority and a novelistic colour and verve'
Books of the Year, Independent
'Holland has a rare eye for detail, drama and the telling anecdote'
Dominic Sandbrook, Daily Telegraph
'An unequivocal argument for the relevance of ancient history'
Observer
'Holland brings this tumultuous, epoch-making period dazzlingly to life'
William Napier, Independent on Sunday
In the fifth century BC, a global superpower was determined to bring truth and order to what it regarded as two terrorist states. The superpower was Persia, incomparably rich in ambition, gold and men. The terrorist states were Athens and Sparta, eccentric cities in a poor and mountainous backwater: Greece. The story of how their citizens took on the most powerful man on the planet is as heart-stopping as any episode in history.
Tom Holland's bestselling account of the world's very first clash of civilisations between the Persians and the Greeks in 480BC
'Magisterial... told with great authority and a novelistic colour and verve'
Books of the Year, Independent
'Holland has a rare eye for detail, drama and the telling anecdote'
Dominic Sandbrook, Daily Telegraph
'An unequivocal argument for the relevance of ancient history'
Observer
'Holland brings this tumultuous, epoch-making period dazzlingly to life'
William Napier, Independent on Sunday
In the fifth century BC, a global superpower was determined to bring truth and order to what it regarded as two terrorist states. The superpower was Persia, incomparably rich in ambition, gold and men. The terrorist states were Athens and Sparta, eccentric cities in a poor and mountainous backwater: Greece. The story of how their citizens took on the most powerful man on the planet is as heart-stopping as any episode in history.
Product Details
Publisher
Abacus
Format
Paperback
Publication date
2006
Condition
New
Number of Pages
448
Place of Publication
London, United Kingdom
ISBN
9780349117171
SKU
V9780349117171
Shipping Time
Usually ships in 5 to 9 working days
Ref
99-99
About Tom Holland
Tom Holland is an award-winning historian, author and broadcaster. His bestselling books include Rubicon: The Triumph and the Tragedy of the Roman Republic, which won the Hessell-Tiltman Prize for History and was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize; Persian Fire, which won the Anglo-Hellenic League's Runciman Award; Millennium: The End of the World and the Forging of Christendom; In the Shadow of the Sword: The Battle for Global Empire and the End of the Ancient World; Dynasty: The Rise and Fall of the House of Caesar; and Dominion: The Making of the Western Mind. Holland has adapted Homer, Herodotus, Thucydides and Virgil for the BBC. His translation of Herodotus was published in 2013 by Penguin Classics and followed in 2016 by a history of Æthelstan published under the Penguin Monarchs series, and in 2019 Æthelflæd England's Forgotten Founder as a Ladybird Expert Book. In 2007, he was the winner of the Classical Association prize, awarded to 'the individual who has done most to promote the study of the language, literature and civilisation of Ancient Greece and Rome'. Holland hosts (with Dominic Sandbrook) the no.1 podcast The Rest is History. He has written and presented a number of TV documentaries for the BBC and Channel 4, on subjects ranging from religion to dinosaurs. He served two years as the Chair of the Society of Authors; as Chair of the PLR Advisory Committee and was on the committee of the Classical Association. @holland_tom
Reviews for Persian Fire: The First World Empire and the Battle for the West
It is a testament to Holland's superlative powers as a narrative historian that he brings this tumultuous, epoch-making period dazzlingly to life
William Napier
Independent on Sunday
Holland has a rare eye for the detail, drama and the telling anecdote... A vibrant, bloodthirsty popular history, told with a rich sense of irony and irresistible narrative timing
Daily Telegraph
Magisterial... told with great authority and a novelistic colour and verve
Independent on Sunday
A page-turning account of a conflict that genuinely was one of the pivots on which world history has turned... His descriptions of the great confrontations of the war provide miniature masterclasses in the art of exciting historical writing... This is a terrific book, combining impeccable scholarship with the narrative drive of a fine novel
Nick Rennison
Sunday Times
This book is an unequivocal argument for the relevance of ancient history... Holland never strains for modern references; they are implicit in the stories he tells with such scholarship and flair
Observer
Excellent... Holland is a cool-headed historian who writes no less authoritatively and engagingly on classical Greece than he did on ancient Rome
Mary Beard
Sunday Times
Ambitious... a sweeping popular account that seems destined to become a classic
Seattle Times
A welcome popularization of ancient history, with a nicely vengeful cliffhanger of an ending that begs for a sequel
Kirkus
In the sweep and vividness of his prose Tom Holland does the subject proud, and he is also good at trying to look at the conflict as much through Persian eyes as Greek, and at getting inside the psyche of Darius and Xerxes
Literary Review
Holland doesn't impose a modern sensibility on the ancient civilizations he describes, and he delves into the background histories of both sides with equally fascinating detail... the story of the Persian empire should be fresh and surprising to many readers, while Holland's graceful, modern voice will captivate those intimidated by Herodotus
Publishers Weekly
Thrilling... a fascinating insight into Europe's development
Guardian
Gripping and authoritative ... An awe-inspiring story of the struggle for freedom
Express
Confident, fluent and accessible, and with salutary lessons for our own times, this is history at its best
The Times
William Napier
Independent on Sunday
Holland has a rare eye for the detail, drama and the telling anecdote... A vibrant, bloodthirsty popular history, told with a rich sense of irony and irresistible narrative timing
Daily Telegraph
Magisterial... told with great authority and a novelistic colour and verve
Independent on Sunday
A page-turning account of a conflict that genuinely was one of the pivots on which world history has turned... His descriptions of the great confrontations of the war provide miniature masterclasses in the art of exciting historical writing... This is a terrific book, combining impeccable scholarship with the narrative drive of a fine novel
Nick Rennison
Sunday Times
This book is an unequivocal argument for the relevance of ancient history... Holland never strains for modern references; they are implicit in the stories he tells with such scholarship and flair
Observer
Excellent... Holland is a cool-headed historian who writes no less authoritatively and engagingly on classical Greece than he did on ancient Rome
Mary Beard
Sunday Times
Ambitious... a sweeping popular account that seems destined to become a classic
Seattle Times
A welcome popularization of ancient history, with a nicely vengeful cliffhanger of an ending that begs for a sequel
Kirkus
In the sweep and vividness of his prose Tom Holland does the subject proud, and he is also good at trying to look at the conflict as much through Persian eyes as Greek, and at getting inside the psyche of Darius and Xerxes
Literary Review
Holland doesn't impose a modern sensibility on the ancient civilizations he describes, and he delves into the background histories of both sides with equally fascinating detail... the story of the Persian empire should be fresh and surprising to many readers, while Holland's graceful, modern voice will captivate those intimidated by Herodotus
Publishers Weekly
Thrilling... a fascinating insight into Europe's development
Guardian
Gripping and authoritative ... An awe-inspiring story of the struggle for freedom
Express
Confident, fluent and accessible, and with salutary lessons for our own times, this is history at its best
The Times