Great scholarly text. The concepts were well thought out but were dense. I had to step away at time to process what I read- which is a good thing. I would recommend this book.

Very interesting a detailed. A must read for anyone interested in Persia and Greece and the wars that created Alexander.

Impressive work, historical masterpiece! Everyhing you need to know about Persia and Greco-Persian escalation
We need more history books like this one

This was a great book on the Persian wars and origins of the first East-West conflict of the ancient world. I would recommend this book to scholars for this time period and those who are interested in this conflict.

This book is well researched and well written. It does however assume a fair amount of prior knowledge in the reader, without which it would be hard to follow. All in all I’d highly recommend this though.

It's been years since I read a book about Greco-Persian Wars and this was a good way to refresh my memories.
It's well researched and informative, a good way to learn about this historical time.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Overview:
Sources about the Persian Empire are scarce and often biased in favor of some peoples over others, creating a distorted account of events. The author attempts to corroborate sources, and rectify the errors, to make an account of the events and battles as they actually happened. The focus of the book is on the battles and wars. The weapons and tools that were available. The tactics and strategies employed. Naval and land capabilities.

Greek city-states and the Persian Empire had some similarities, such as the need for resources outside those that were available in their regions. The way they obtained those resources was different. While the Greek city-states created colonies, the Persian Empire conquered regions. The decentralized system of the Greek city-states created friction, as their differences did not mix well. The centralized system of the Persian Empire was able to make bureaucracy more systematic, such as with taxation, but created a problem with rebellions, as people did not want to give up their freedoms. Showing the cultural attitudes toward others, and the importance of geopolitics, as the people who could offer valuable services were favored, while others were under pressure.

Caveats?
The writing of the book is difficult to understand without knowing a lot of the background information. The book is detailed, but hard to put together without knowing the cultural forces impacting decisions.

A fascinating insight into the Greco-Persian wars. This book was enjoyable to read and follow and had scholarly detail on an important part of world history. I learned a lot about ancient history in this book. My knowledge on the Classics is limited to Hollywood blockbusters, so this book helped place the sequence of events into perspective.
The author is an expert in this area of history and has done a great job of writing and provided numerous illustrations. to aid the reader. Extensive bibliography has also been provided for those who wish to read around the subject.

So informative, a lovely book rich with history. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

NB: free ARC received for honest review

I struggled with this one, I must admit. There is a LOT of good information in it, but the presentation is a real challenge. It is dense and convoluted, parenthetical and elliptical. I had to stop and re-read sentences on several occasions. It could use a vigorous editing to simplify the structure, shorten the sentences, and generally improve the ease of reading.

If you're willing to persevere with the book though, and really give it your full attention, there is a lot of interesting content to be found.

While I did thoroughly enjoy "The Rise of Persia and the First Greco-Persian Wars" (particularly Manousos E. Kambouris's way of writing), it does feel like this book needed to be twice the length (or maybe in two volumes) to fully immerse yourself. It's a fascinating part of history, and I would love to read much more about it.

My thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley. This review was written voluntarily and is entirely my own, unbiased, opinion.

detailed and interesting look at the rise of Persia with interesting discussions diagrams and explainations . would improve anyone's knowledge of this period of ancient history.

Cyrus the Great and his empire were the first truly continent-spanning empire. Parts of Asia, Africa, and portions of Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean are all united by a common language and governmental system. five hundred years before Rome. The rule of law, written language, and established trade routes spanning the region would lead to a time of growth, learning, and cultural development that would be the greatest in human history up till that point. Fascinating and well worth the read.

I had previously read about the battle of Marathon, but knew very little about what happened prior to it, so this book gave me context and was interesting!