Book Review: The Warrior Ethos

The tenets of honor and valor have been around the battlefield for thousands of years. Author Steven Pressfield, a former Marine and author of Gates of Fire*, takes a look at the similarities and common threads of warriors that transcend time.

I wedged myself into my window economy seat and read it all in one sitting (if you don't count the nap I took in the middle of the flight), but that's probably not the ideal way to read the book. It is comprised of short essays (some no more than a paragraph or two), so you don't really gain a lot of idea development by reading it in large chunks. It would be a great candidate for the magazine rack in your bathroom, and that's meant as no disrespect to the quality of the book.

He draws upon his expertise as an author on ancient armies and offers solid connections between the warrior mindset then and now and how little has changed. This is a great read for those of us in uniform and people that understand that the warrior mindset is applied just as easily off the battlefield as it is on.

The book comes in e-reader formats for under $7, paperback for $10 and free to read online on the author's website (click the link that says "Full Text"). Check it out.


*I read Gates of Fire as a senior in high school after hearing about the Spartans for the first time in a wold history class. The book is historical fiction novel about the battle of Thermopylae. I haven't been the same since...

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