by Steven Pressfield
"Masterful and thrilling—an insightful and timely look back at a region and its warring tribes...with clear connections to present day." —W.E.B. Griffin "An impressive scholar and gifted storyteller, Steven Pressfield is the finest military writer alive, bar none. I cannot recommend him too highly." —Stephen Coonts "The Afghan war that was waged by Alexander the Great over 2,000 years ago is eerily similar to the one that is being fought today. This book should be required reading for anyone who wants to better understand what American and coalition forces are up against in one of history's most tribal and troubled regions. "No one writes better historical fiction than Steven Pressfield." — Vince Flynn |
For more information:
Callie R. Oettinger, callie@o-a-inc.com
Ph: 703-451-2476,
Fax: 703-451-6870
History Always Repeats Itself
Bestselling novelist of ancient warfare Steven Pressfield returns with a riveting historical novel that re-creates a campaign that eerily foreshadows the tactics, terrors, and frustrations of contemporary conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan
2,300 years ago, Alexander the Great—leading the undefeated superpower army of his era—invaded the territories we know today as Iraq and Afghanistan. He thought the campaign would be over in a summer. Three years later, he was still mired in the sternest and most bitter struggle of his career. Only through a combination of new tactics on the ground, diplomacy, intrigue and personal politics did he succeed at last in extricating himself and his army in a manner that could (with the right application of spin) be called 'victory.'
"Here the foe will not meet us in pitched battle, as other armies we have dueled in the past. His word to us is worthless. He routinely violates truces; he betrays the peace. When we defeat him, he will not accept our dominion. He comes back again and again. He hates us with a passion whose depth is exceeded only by his patience and his capacity for suffering."
With the United States engaged in the same area of the world today, the story of Alexander's campaign resonates more powerfully than ever: the mightiest military machine on earth finds itself hamstrung by a tribally-based, insurgent, guerilla-style resistance. Has anything changed? Are we of the West fighting the same war we've been fighting for the past two millennia—in the same place, employing the same tactics, producing the same results?
In The Afghan Campaign Steven Pressfield is embedded, reporting "on the ground" from 330 B.C. in the voice of Matthias, an infantryman of Alexander's army. We follow Matthias, up-close and personal, across the identical terrain being fought over today. What did Alexander understand that our leaders don't? Can we draw lessons from warriors of the past—and from a campaign that demonstrates so many uncanny parallels to the "fourth-generation warfare" of today?
The result of years of research, Steven Pressfield's The Afghan Campaign recreates every detail of the daily routine of Alexander's infantry, from their pre-dawn chores; to their long marches of men (and women!), animals and supplies; to their personal rivalries and confidences at the end of the day. As for all soldiers throughout history, war distills into hours, days and weeks of anticipation and dread interrupted by intense flashes of violence, blood and death.
Intense, detailed, and sweeping in its action and its scope, The Afghan Campaign takes modern readers into the mind of the ancient warrior, where they will discover that this great battle of the last epoch is in many ways a blueprint for how we would fight in the next one.
The Afghan Campaign is an edge-of-your-seat adventure and once again demonstrates Steven Pressfield's profound understanding of the hopes and desperation of men in battle and of the historical realities that continue to influence our world.