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Summary: Lessons for manhhood
Review: Well, I live in Turkey and saw the book. Don't know what happened but bought it.After the first paragraphs I was astonished. In fact I read it as a translation, so I have no idea if language used in the book is "good English" or not. The book really took my attention until the end. There are alot of good, very good paragraphs in the book: King Leonidas tells how to be the king, and Dienekes's late answer for the opposite of fear. Which is as I never thoght "love". I like readind historical novels, but I might say that this one is the best so far.
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Summary: A study of manhood
Review: One of my favorite reads. It is exciting, although the dialogue and some of the other mechanisms are sometimes a bit clunky, and it is a study of manhood. At 48, having been married for over 20 years, having spent time as an officer in the U.S. Army, as a trial lawyer, as whitewater kayaker and as a competitive oarsman (all activities revealing of the self and of others) I think I can reliably say it's a good one. I offer these suggestions as aids to understanding the book. Xeo, and the Persian narrator, comprise a plot device which reveals the purpose of the book. We meet Xeo when he is young, rootless, and searching for a place in life after the destruction of his city. His role is the search for and examination of manhood. The Persian narrator, as a device, is a hint, actually an explicit declaration, that the book is about gaining an understanding of the honorable men who stood at the Hot Gates and thus, all honorable men. Dienekes is, of course, the ideal man. He is courageous (knowing fear and facing it down); competent, caring, and willing to yield his masculine ideals of honor to his wife's higher morality in saving the son of Rooster. All are drawn to him, even though he is not be prettiest, nor the strongest, nor the fastest. Polynikes is a bit of a "straw man", another plot device whose purpose , mostly by negative example and by coming off second to Dienekes, is to show that manhood is more than athletic prowess and the ability to physically dominate-- as he himself comes to recognize by acknowledging the virtue of Alexandros. Alexandros is the boy who dies becoming a man and whose literary role is to be the lens through which Xeo studies the process of becoming a man, as exemplified by the contrast between Dienekes and Polynikes in their conduct toward Alexandros. The author stresses the superiority of women's courage and morality via the men, Leonidas and Dienekes,who honor the courage and morality of Spartan women. At the same time, the book is a good insight for women into what men are, or should be.
Rating: 
Summary: What a bucket of pig-slop
Review: My dear Brothers, Please stay well away from this frightful snoutfull of cheesy faux-history. ... Stephen Pressfield hates you the reader almost as much as he hates hates hates The English Language. dtownsell.
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Summary: Death of a Civilization
Review: Dear Friends, I like writing. A lot. Titus Andronicus is a beautiful work about the slimiest most horrible people on earth. If you have a chance, rent the video, starring Anthony Hopkins, Jessica Lange, Alan Cummings...This was hideous. But, a great work of art, intelligence, insight, et cetera. Shakespeare is heroically adroit in his use of English...It is so far be low Shakespeare...
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Summary: Opa!!! Top 3 best books I've ever read...2nd time around
Review: Yasou! Easily one of the best books I've ever read. After reading this book I was inspired to research every piece of literature out there regarding Sparta and Spartan life. The characters are very knowable. People like Leonidas, Dienekes, Polynikes, Alexandros, and Xeo, to name a few are names that will always be with me. I know these guys, I know people like these guys. I can relate to these guys. Do yourself a favor and get this book and read. It is a wonderful book for women as well. My wife loved the book, and she is not the reading type. She had no idea how powerful and strong the women were in Sparta. We are planning a trip to Greece in 2003, this book is part of the reason. I want to explore my Greek roots and visit the statue of Leonidas and see, smell, and feel the countryside. This book will inspire you. Andio!
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Summary: Not recommended
Review: Mr. Pressfield reminds us of Simonides epitaph for the heroic soldiers at the Battle of Thermoplyae in the very beginning: .............Go tell the Spartans, stranger passing by ...............that here obedient to their laws we lie......... Nothing more has ever needed to be said in the last 2,500 years. Now we have more than we ever really wanted to know - twelve year old boys tortured and beaten to death in the name of encouraging other boys how to be "manly". A society so off the main track, and condemned even then by contemporaries, that it makes the Nazis warm and fuzzy. If you are a specialist in Spartan society, by all means read this book. If you are looking for a good historical read, run... In an attempt to make the characters well-drawn, the author simply manages to put them in quite bizarre contextual contradictions. Unintentionally hilarious is the Spartan explaining to the Egyptian the rationale for his society. It is "freedom", he says. One wonders. "Slavery" would have been a more accurate response, not to speak of "sadism". Scariest of all is the blurb on the back cover by an American Colonel who recommends this book as an example of the beauty of the military mindset. Give me citizen soldiers, anyday. The style is earnestly striving for verisimilitude, but manages to leave us only with a sort of quirkiness. Our speech patterns are no longer like Homer. But he gets "A" for effort here.
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Summary: A Great Book
Review: What a story...I had to read it twice.
Rating:
Summary: Loved It!
Review: Exquisitely researched and written this book has it all -- a fascinating historical backdrop, dimensional characters that live and breathe and a story so absorbing you will wish it didn't end. Pressfield is a great writer, an even greater story-teller and a fine historian. The true story of the the battle of Thermopylae at which 300 Spartans held off a Persian army more than 30 times its size for a week seems easy enough to turn into a fascinating novel, and a lesser author might have been capable of telling that story. But only an author as talented as Pressfield could tell the whole story -- the how and why it was possible. Pressfield does as good of a job making the reader understand the enabling aspects of Spartan culture as he does explaining the various tactics and phases of the battle itself. The combination makes for a sensational read.
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Summary: As if present............
Review: Humanity will always marvel at the awesome sons of Lakedaemon; Spartan men, taciturn philosophers, lovers of life and resenters of death, strict, stern, competitive and proud, demigods by the hundreds, raised in that shrein of valour, but still human enough to weep upon a comrade's loss. As the poet would say "...these men were born to drill and die.....". Thermopylae was just another shrine of andreia -valour- one of the many where Greeks deposited the most precious asset one can have: their own lives to preserve freedom. A freedom that "is extracted from the holy bones of the Hellenes..." as the National Anthem dictates. Presented here in a unique way, lies a world build less on marble and more on valour; a world of self-sacrifice and contempt of fear; Being Greek and an army officer at that, I can only kneel at the majestic way facts in full detail are presented to praise this rare cast of men and what they all died for. All I can say is this: On behalf of all the Greeks, dead or alive, ancient or contemporary, thank you Mr Pressfield. I am definite that Dienekes himself is lying under a tree in heaven grinning at you, raising his thumb in approval........ Bravo
Rating:
Summary: An Epic, indeed...
Review: This book is perhaps the best historical novel that I've ever read. Not so much for the account of the battle of Thermopylae itself (which is vividly portrayed, btw), but for the fascinating depiction of Spartan society. It's difficult for us moderns to understand that rigidly unique ancient culture, but Pressfield somehow manages to bring them to your front doorstep. Another thing that I just loved about this work were the priceless bits of humor that were scattered about, with the Merchant encounter ("Weck up to thees!") being especially hilarious. I thought that there were a few segements where the narrative stumbled a bit, but the author recovered and quickly placed the reader back on track for an ongoing rollercoaster ride. I was mesmerized by Pressfield's easy-to-read prose, and like many of the other reviewers before me, I simply could not put this book down. After finishing GATES OF FIRE, I was glad to see that the author acknowledged his sources since many familiar passages were indeed "looted" to complete this work. But that's OK, because as the guide who places the pieces of the 2500 year old historical puzzle together, thus revealing a magnificent portrait of ancient life, Pressfield has accomplished an amazing thing. He not only transports us back in time to give a bird's eye view to a part of the Greek and Persian war, but he also firmly plants you there on solid ground. Pretty bold for a book to title itself an "Epic", but without hesitation I can say that GATES OF FIRE lives up to the billing - it is simply brilliant.
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