Gates Of Fire

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I’ve got to be honest: until about the halfway point I was underwhelmed, suspecting that this book has been massively overrated. It wasn’t bad precisely, but it wasn’t great either. I have issues. To be specific: The Spartans arrive at Thermopylae ahead of the Spartans and repair a stone wall across the pass. The battle takes place over three days, with successive waves of Persian battalions assaulting the defensive phalanx of the Spartans and their allies. How difficult was it to find a publisher for this project, and how enthusiastic was the publisher about it at first? Am I right in thinking you worked on revising a screenplay of Total Recall? Do you have any other film credits? At Thermopylae, the allied Greek nations deployed a small force of four thousand Greek heavy infantry against the invading Persian army of two million strong. Leading the Greeks was a small force of three hundred Spartans, chosen because they were all "sires" — men who had to have sons who could preserve their blood line, should they fall in battle. [4]

Then I thought, Wait a minute, this idea is even crazier than the idea for Bagger Vance. It’s about a battle nobody has ever heard of, that they can’t spell, can’t pronounce–and it was fought by a nation nobody knows anything about and doesn’t care. No one will be interested in this except me.This book is apparently taught at West Point http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gates_of... and I found that very interesting. This is a story about bravery and what it takes to be brave, and I guess that is exactly the sort of thing people in the army would expect to learn. I couldn’t help reflect while reading this book how often when America is involved in military adventures overseas they are much more likely to see themselves as the 300, and therefore acting to defend their homeland, rather than as the Persian invaders. This is interesting, as it does involve some fascinating mental gymnastics. What I liked most about the book was that it is unflinching in its presentation of both the glory and the pity of war – most books tend to pitch one line or the other. Do you think the Spartan defence at Thermopylae was worth it? In what actions do you set the example? What could you do to set a higher standard for your unit based solely off of your actions (not words)?

Dienekes’s role as an officer drove him to continuously set the example. How did he do this throughout the book? The novel is told from either the perspective of the royal scribe to the Persian king Xerxes, as he records the story of Xeones, after the battle, or in the first person from Xeones' point of view.The gas crater is near the village of Darvaza in the middle of the Karakum Desert, about 260 kilometres (160 mi) north of Ashgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan, it has a diameter of 60–70 metres (200–230 ft) [5] [4] and has a depth of about 30 metres (98 ft). [6] Another nearby gas crater is fenced off, and smells of natural gas. [4] The Mud Crater. About 10 km from the Darvaza Gas Crater. History [ edit ]

How can you personally prepare to help your platoon and yourself when the impact of battle hits following the fight?What insight about the way people mentally prepare for battle can be learned by listening to Leonidas’s speech to his men after the battle at Antirhion? Lancelot by Giles Kristian was an amazing standalone and now, I’ve found Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield. I’m starting to feel that historical fiction is the right genre to visit when I’m looking for amazing standalone books. In my opinion, both Lancelot and Gates of Fire achieved what I think at this point is impossible to find in SFF (my favorite genre) books: a standalone masterpiece. With fiery temerity, I’m not even afraid to claim these two as the best standalone books out of every genre I’ve ever read so far. However, the story was told by Xeo, looking retroactively at the battle and the lives of the Spartans, as told to the Persian Great King Xerxes and involved jumping through time in a non-linear fashion. It also included some notes from a Persian historian, as if he were recording the story and happenings currently, post Battle of Thermopylae. I understand why the author made those choices, there were things that Xeo couldn't witness and an understanding we could only get from a Persian POV. I get it. Still, it served to drag me away from the story and my emotional involvement with it, and sometimes even caused confusion as to the timeline. The disruption wasn't terrible but it was enough to strip this novel of its potential to be one of my all-time favorites. Suffice it to say that Gates of Fire has become one of the best escapism experiences I’ve ever had in my life. Don’t let the tragedy stop you from reading this book, because beneath the gores and battle, the nature of this book was hopeful and inspiring. There were myriads of incredibly positive messages in this book and I’ll definitely let them become a part of me as I move forward in my life. We found a publisher almost at once, at Doubleday, and they loved it. I was really amazed. My editor Shawn Coyne read a blurb about the book in an article and called up my agent. He couldn’t have been better or more enthusiastic and, to my astonishment given the subject matter (which I thought was pretty obscure), the whole company got behind it. It still amazes me.