Summary Of Steven Pressfield S The Warrior Ethos

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 The Warrior Ethos is a set of virtues that most warrior societies believe must be instilled from birth. In Sparta, every newborn boy was brought before the magistrates to be examined for physical hardiness. If a child was judged unfit, he was taken to a wild gorge on Mount Taygetos and left for the wolves. #2 The Warrior Ethos is not just a manifestation of male aggression, but of society-wide strength and will. It is based on the will and resolve of mothers and wives to defend their children, their home soil, and the values of their culture. #3 The Warrior Ethos is the result of the human race’s need to survive. It evolved from the primary need of the spear-toting, rock-throwing, animal-skin-wearing hunting band. The Warrior Ethos encourages us to contend against and defeat our enemies within ourselves. #4 The Warrior Ethos was developed as a counterpoise to fear. It was based on the idea that a manly virtue of valor and honor was as important as victory.

WARS CHANGE, WARRIORS DON'T We are all warriors. Each of us struggles every day to define and defend our sense of purpose and integrity, to justify our existence on the planet and to understand, if only within our own hearts, who we are and what we believe in. Do we fight by a code? If so, what is it? What is the Warrior Ethos? Where did it come from? What form does it take today? How do we (and how can we) use it and be true to it in our internal and external lives? The Warrior Ethos is intended not only for men and women in uniform, but artists, entrepreneurs and other warriors in other walks of life. The book examines the evolution of the warrior code of honor and "mental toughness." It goes back to the ancient Spartans and Athenians, to Caesar's Romans, Alexander's Macedonians and the Persians of Cyrus the Great (not excluding the Garden of Eden and the primitive hunting band). Sources include Herodotus, Thucydides, Plutarch, Xenophon, Vegetius, Arrian and Curtius--and on down to Gen. George Patton, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, and Israeli Minister of Defense, Moshe Dayan.

* Our summary is short, simple and pragmatic. It allows you to have the essential ideas of a big book in less than 30 minutes. As you read this summary, you will learn what the "warrior ethos" is, that is, what the essential characteristics of a warrior are, and how to use them to your advantage in your life. You will also learn : how the Spartans or Alexander the Great lived; why a warrior is fundamentally different from a civilian; that the code of honor is not an empty word among warriors; that adversity is not always negative; how the ethos can be useful to a non-military person. Since antiquity, warriors have instinctively followed a kind of code of honor that has always been their strength and reputation. However, over the last few centuries, changes in the way war is fought have profoundly challenged the old ways of life of combatants. Yet, beyond appearances, even if it has lost its importance, this code is still being passed on, because its preservation is essential. It is not only a way of fighting: it is also a way of being that, beyond the military, speaks to every human being. *Buy now the summary of this book for the modest price of a cup of coffee!

The follow-up to his bestseller The War of Art, Turning Pro navigates the passage from the amateur life to a professional practice. "You don't need to take a course or buy a product. All you have to do is change your mind." --Steven Pressfield TURNING PRO IS FREE, BUT IT'S NOT EASY. When we turn pro, we give up a life that we may have become extremely comfortable with. We give up a self that we have come to identify with and to call our own. TURNING PRO IS FREE, BUT IT DEMANDS SACRIFICE. The passage from amateur to professional is often achieved via an interior odyssey whose trials are survived only at great cost, emotionally, psychologically and spiritually. We pass through a membrane when we turn pro. It's messy and it's scary. We tread in blood when we turn pro. WHAT WE GET WHEN WE TURN PRO. What we get when we turn pro is we find our power. We find our will and our voice and we find our self-respect. We become who we always were but had, until then, been afraid to embrace and live out.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • “Steven Pressfield brings the battle of Thermopylae to brilliant life.”—Pat Conroy At Thermopylae, a rocky mountain pass in northern Greece, the feared and admired Spartan soldiers stood three hundred strong. Theirs was a suicide mission, to hold the pass against the invading millions of the mighty Persian army. Day after bloody day they withstood the terrible onslaught, buying time for the Greeks to rally their forces. Born into a cult of spiritual courage, physical endurance, and unmatched battle skill, the Spartans would be remembered for the greatest military stand in history—one that would not end until the rocks were awash with blood, leaving only one gravely injured Spartan squire to tell the tale. . . .

Narrated from death row by Alcibiades’ bodyguard and assassin, a man whose own love and loathing for his former commander mirrors the mixed emotions felt by all Athens, Tides of War tells an epic saga of an extraordinary century, a war that changed history, and a complex leader who seduced a nation. Brilliant at war, a master of politics, and a charismatic lover, Alcibiades was Athens’ favorite son and the city’s greatest general. A prodigal follower of Socrates, he embodied both the best and the worst of the Golden Age of Greece. A commander on both land and sea, he led his armies to victory after victory. But like the heroes in a great Greek tragedy, he was a victim of his own pride, arrogance, excess, and ambition. Accused of crimes against the state, he was banished from his beloved Athens, only to take up arms in the service of his former enemies. For nearly three decades, Greece burned with war and Alcibiades helped bring victories to both sides — and ended up trusted by neither. BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Steven Pressfield's The Profession. Praise for Tides of War “Pressfield’s battlefield scenes rank with the most convincing ever written.”—USA Today “Pressfield serves up not just hair-raising battle scenes . . . but many moments of valor and cowardice, lust and bawdy humor. . . . Even more impressively, he delivers a nuanced portrait of ancient athens.”—Esquire “Unabashedly brilliant, epic, intelligent, and moving.”—Kirkus Reviews “Pressfield’s attention to historic detail is exquisite. . . . This novel will remain with the reader long after the final chapter is finished.”—Library Journal “Astounding, historically accurate tale . . . Pressfield is a master storyteller, especially adept in his graphic and embracing descriptions of the land and naval battles, political intrigues and colorful personalities, which come together in an intense and credible portrait of war-torn Greece.”—Publishers Weekly

While serving a tour in Afghanistan in 2013, I came across Steven Pressfield's 2011 monograph " The Warrior Ethos," at the top of a list of books that the Commandant of the Marine Corps had made mandatory reading for all Marines. Having enjoyed several of Pressfield's historical novels before, I was looking forward to this latest volume, but was shocked by what I discovered; a rambling mixture of Laconophiliac hero worship, Eastern mysticism, and pop psychology. As a leader and an officer, I was so concerned by the disturbingly misogynistic and backwards-looking nature of this book that I found myself obliged to write a critique to explain the book's glaring deficiencies, but soon realized that such a critique would only be half of what was needed; just as important would be a counterpoint to illustrate the nature of a Warrior Ethos more suited for the Information Age than the Bronze Age. Pressfield wrote his book in an attempt that was as well-intentioned as its outcome was mistaken; to define and promulgate a "Warrior Ethos" meant to help guide young (presumably American) fighting men and women along the path to success. Unfortunately, his principles, if followed to the letter, would more likely result in personal and professional failure. This book has been written to accomplish Pressfield's intended purpose; but I propose a much different moral compass than the honor-bound, shame-based relic of dead cultures that my counterpart has offered up, and this book represents my effort to suggest a useful way forward in considering what sort of ethos modern warriors of all ages, ranks, and nationalities may find beneficial in the years to come.

From the acclaimed master of historical fiction comes an epic saga about a reluctant hero, the Roman Empire, and the rise of a new faith. Jerusalem and the Sinai desert, first century AD. In the turbulent aftermath of the crucifixion of Jesus, officers of the Roman Empire acquire intelligence of a pilgrim bearing an incendiary letter from a religious fanatic to insurrectionists in Corinth. The content of this letter could bring down the empire. The Romans hire a former legionary, the solitary man-at-arms, Telamon of Arcadia, to intercept the letter and capture its courier. Telamon operates by a dark code all his own, with no room for noble causes or lofty beliefs. But once he overtakes the courier, something happens that neither he nor the empire could have predicted. In his first novel of the ancient world in thirteen years, the best-selling author of Gates of Fire and Tides of War returns with a gripping saga of conquest and rebellion, bloodshed and faith.