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Title: Hannibal by Serge Lancel, Antonia Nevill ISBN: 0-631-21848-3 Publisher: Blackwell Publishers Pub. Date: March, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $30.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.67 (3 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Details Without Exaggeration
Comment: I found this book a very concise and scholarly work on the life and battles of the great general Hannibal. Though no new ground is covered in this treatise, it is very well written and translated and would be an excellent read before embarking on a report or essay on the battle of Rome.
Understandable and enlightening, this book covers the life of the general as well as most other books currently in print though not as well as some that are difficult to find today. Without question factual, this book was meticulously researched and verified. Still, since we have little evidence from a historical standpoint other than what has alrady been offered, there is nothing new to glean from the pages of this book.
One of the best attibutes of this book is the lack of embellishment or dramatic affectation of the battles Hannibal fought. The facts are credible and thoroughly investigated.
Because of the interesting pitch and composition of the writing, this would be an ideal book for teachers to require students from high school onwards to read. It is compelling enough to hold their interest and edcuational enough to impart some knowledge of the antiquities.
Rating: 4
Summary: comprehensive, intelligent and readable book
Comment: The trouble with all books about Hannibal is that they all tend to read rather much the same, which simply reflects the fact that virtually all our information of him derives from only two written sources (Polybius, who was semi-contemporaneous, and Livy), so biographically it's kinda difficult for any author of a Hannibal book to get any new angle or info on him. Thanks to the Romans' thorough destruction job on old Carthage, there is minimal archeological or other primary documentary evidence to add to our knowledge of him, so unless someday something turns up somewhere else (bearing in mind he actually spent more of his life away from Carthage)...
What therefore helps to make this book stand out from others, is that the author is a respected academic and authority on the subject (he has excavated Carthage - see his other book) who clearly knows his stuff.
His comments and discussion are balanced and intelligent, and being a fairly recent book is able to take account of modern views and research. What is also good is that he avoids sacrificing the book's readability with being overly detailed on every aspect, but yet caters for those looking for more detail in places with specific literature references in his narrative. In my judgment the information contained is very thorough and sufficiently detailed, for most readers, without being overwhelming.
I should think this book is probably as good as any other book on Hannibal currently in print (if not one of the better ones).
However, in my opinion the best book is the now out-of-print "Hannibal: The Struggle for Power in the Mediterranean" by Gavin De Beer, which is comprehensive, highly readable and (best of all) is lavishly illustrated with color plates and photographs on nearly every page; - something which alas is lacking in most other books including this one, which only contains twelve simple diagrams/maps, not counting the front cover picture.
In summary, though, this is a scholarly yet very readable account of Hannibal which pretty much tells you all there is we have available to know about this awesome guy.
Rating: 3
Summary: A Decent Biography of a Great Military Commander
Comment: This was an interesting account of Hannibal provided by this French author, who is a Professor of Archaeology at the University of Grenoble. He utilises most contempary and some modern accounts of Hannibal and his campaigns and also offers his views on those accounts to assist the reader in judging the accuracy of the text.
At times I found the narrative to become a bit muddled and somewhat dry but overall he offers a decent biography of this Great Commander. I would have appreciated a more in-depth account of his battles but the author does provide details of every facet of Hannibals campaigns including the political background at the time.
For those looking for a more detailed military history of Hannibal and his role in the Punic Wars I would recommend Nigel Bagnall's 'The Punic Wars'. For a view from "the other side" I would recommend 'Scipio Africanus, Greater than Napoleon' by Liddell Hart.
However if you just want a decent account of Hannibal and an over-view of his role in the second Punic War than this book should fit the bill.
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Title: Scipio Africanus: Greater Than Napoleon by B. H. Liddell Hart, Michael Grant ISBN: 0306805839 Publisher: DaCapo Press Pub. Date: September, 1994 List Price(USD): $17.50 |
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Title: Hannibal's War: A Military History of the Second Punic War by J. F. Lazenby ISBN: 0806130040 Publisher: Univ of Oklahoma Pr (Trd) Pub. Date: March, 1998 List Price(USD): $16.22 |
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