Editorial<\/p>\n
Publishers Weekly<\/em><\/p>\n Leading classicist Hanson (The Father of Us All<\/em>) focuses on the Theban defeat of the renowned Spartan army in 371 B.C.E. The hero of the tale is the Theban general Epaminondas, a devotee of Pythagoras and a warrior with unconventional attitudes about warfare, life, and death. His unexpected choices \u2014 not to mention the Spartan underestimation of the Theban \u201cpigs\u201d \u2014 allow the Thebans to fulfill the prophecies of Sparta\u2019s downfall, many of which focus on the farmer M\u00ealon (meaning \u201capple\u201d), whose journey from reluctant soldier to enthusiastic liberator gives the novel its emotional heart. Battle scenes are conveyed in exacting detail; a glossary of names and numerous line diagrams help readers differentiate characters and envisage the sites of central dramas. Told in a somewhat elevated style that simultaneously honors and updates the rhetorical heights of classic Greek histories, Hanson\u2019s novel is both old-fashioned and lively. Given his notable body of work, it\u2019s no wonder that his first fiction effort is rich in authentic detail and narrated with a confident authorial voice. His vigorous narrative not only offers insight into arms and armor, but also into the hearts of the men who bore them.<\/p>\n \u00a92011\u00a0Publishers Weekley<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Editorial Publishers Weekly Leading classicist Hanson (The Father of Us All) focuses on the Theban defeat of the renowned Spartan army in 371 B.C.E.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[87],"tags":[106,1067,306,533,1030],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-wS","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1304,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/a-novel-vdh\/","url_meta":{"origin":2038,"position":0},"title":"A Novel VDH","author":"victorhanson","date":"December 23, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Reliving the fall of Sparta: An interview. by Katheryn Jean Lopez National Review Online Victor Davis Hanson, known as VDH to his fans, has a new book out. This time, it\u2019s a novel,\u00a0The End of Sparta. He talked with\u00a0National Review Online\u2019s Kathryn Jean Lopez about the Greeks and the novel.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Greece"","block_context":{"text":"Greece","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-world\/europe\/greece\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5571,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/delium-the-battle-only-one-man-wanted-part-i\/","url_meta":{"origin":2038,"position":1},"title":"Delium: The Battle Only One Man Wanted–Part I","author":"victorhanson","date":"December 6, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson Military History Quarterly [Delium will appear this week in a five part series: 1)The Battle, 2) The Aftermath, 3) Armor and Ranks, 4) Innovation and the Battlefield, 5) Coalition Warfare] Part I: The Battle By 424 B.C., the Peloponnesian War was at a stalemate. Perhaps a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "December 2005"","block_context":{"text":"December 2005","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/archives\/2005\/december-2005\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1944,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/excerpts-the-end-of-sparta\/","url_meta":{"origin":2038,"position":2},"title":"Excerpts: The End of Sparta","author":"victorhanson","date":"October 16, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson PJ Media The End of Sparta\u00a0[2] comes out today. Now and then I will post excerpts from the novel. Today\u2019s is the Theban council before the battle of Leuktra. As the Thebans debate whether to meet the Spartans the next morning on the plain of Leuktra,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Literature"","block_context":{"text":"Literature","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/literature\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13585,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-culturalist-great-leaders-in-history\/","url_meta":{"origin":2038,"position":3},"title":"The Culturalist: Great Leaders in History","author":"victorhanson","date":"June 21, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Or Men Who Freed Slaves Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ Art19 and Just the News Victor Davis Hanson with his cohost Sami Winc discuss the life and legacy of the Theban general of the 4th century BC Epamenondas and Civil War general William Tecumseh Sherman.","rel":"","context":"With 2 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 2 comments","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-culturalist-great-leaders-in-history\/#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3557,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-dangers-of-education\/","url_meta":{"origin":2038,"position":4},"title":"The Dangers of Education","author":"victorhanson","date":"August 15, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson NRO's\u00a0The Corner Presidential aspirant Mike Gravel recently opined on the advantages of having gays in the military: \"...the Spartans trained their people to be homosexuals because they were better fighters.\" Not quite. I think the popular myth that has fooled Gravel has arisen lately because of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "August 2007"","block_context":{"text":"August 2007","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/archives\/2007\/august-2007\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6534,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-end-of-sparta-a-review\/","url_meta":{"origin":2038,"position":5},"title":"“The End of Sparta” — A Review","author":"victorhanson","date":"September 23, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"A classicist's exemplary historical novel. by Albert Louis Zambone \/\/ BooksandCulture.com Classicists should infuriate other humanists, in the way that the handsome scholar-athlete who volunteers to help dyslexic children and is a genuinely nice guy should infuriate the guy who just made it onto the football team and has a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","block_context":{"text":"Reviews","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/opinion\/reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2038"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2038"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2038\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2039,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2038\/revisions\/2039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}