Joseph Stieb's Reviews > The Punic Wars

Good overall, but dense. A lot of detailed recounting of military operations, the size of forces, tactics, etc. I found a lot of it interesting, and I suppose covering these 3 hugely important conflicts in 370 pages is a feat, but I just found it a bit dry. There's little effort to build the historical characters or add color to what it truly an awesome story. Still, you learn a ton about warfare in that period, the basic flow of this extended conflict, and especially about the remarkably martial and stubborn Roman approach to warfare in this period. I would have liked more on the social effects of the war on Rome; AG touches on it at the end but to me the poli/social effects are more compelling. Also, I just can't bring myself to care that much about what minutia Livy or Polybius disagreed on or exactly how many troops where where at what point. This is all valuable stuff to have in a single volume, but it doesn't make it a great read. This may seem like a petty and unprofessional comment, but I was totally gripped by Dan Carlin's podcast on the Punic Wars, and while this was probably one of its main sources, the drama of it just doesn't come across. Obviously I'm not a historian of the ancient world! Recommend for true military buffs.