This is the best book I have ever read. That’s all I have to say about this book. It’s beautifully written and will hold onto you for hours on end. For those who don’t know the story of the Battle of Thermoplylae or never heard of Leonidas and the Three Hundred Spartans I will quote the inside cover of the book:

In 480 B.C the forces of the Persian Empire under King Xerxes, numbering according the Herodotus two million men, bridged the Hellespont and marching in their myriads to invade and enslave Greece. In a desperate delaying action, a picked force of three hundred Spartans was dispatched to hold the pass of Thermopylae, where the confines between mountains and sea were so narrow that the Persian multitudes and their cavalry would at least be partially neutralized. Here, it was hoped, an elite force willing to sacrifice their lives could keep back, at least for a few days, the invading millions. Three hundred Spartans and their allies held off the invaders for seven days, until, their weapons smashed and broken before the slaughter, they fought “with bare hands and teeth” (as recorded by Herodotus) before at last being overwhelmed. The Spartans and their Thespian allies died to the last man, but the standard of valor set by their sacrifice inspired the Greeks to rally and, in that fall and spring, defeat the Persians at Salamis and Plataea and preserve the beginnings of Western democracy and freedom from perishing in the cradle. Two memorials remain today at Thermoplae. Upon the modern one, called the Leonidas monument in honor of the Spartan king who fell there, is engraved his response to Xerxes’ demand that the Spartans lay down their weapons. Leonidas’ reply was two words, Molon labe. “Come and get them” The second monument, the ancient one, is an unadorned stone engraved with the words of the poet Simonides. Its verses comprise perhaps the most famous of all warrior epitaphs: Go tell the Spartans, stranger passing by, That here obedient to their laws we lie ------Steven Pressfield, Gates of Fire

Gates of Fire contains 384 pages of some of the best action you will ever read. It tells the story of Xeones, a city less orphan who adopts Sparta as his own and becomes the battle squire for one of the Spartan soldiers. It gives some background on Xeones’ life but its main focus is the battle and the events leading up to it. It gives great incite into the Spartan way of life, showing how they train and really giving the reader an understanding of their harsh philosophies on life and war. Pressfield gives reader the feel of war like no other author I have read. You feel like you’re right there in the phalanx with the Scarlet clad Spartans as they save the Western world. If you have any interest at all in ancient warfare or just want to read an incredible story, go out and buy this book, you will not be disappointed. Its destined to become a classic in the same regards as Michael Shaara’s The Killer Angels. I just hope they make this one into a movie too