Persian Fire: The First World Empire and the Battle for the West

In the fifth century B.C., a global superpower was determined to bring truth and order to what it regarded as two terrorist states. The superpower was Persia, incomparably rich in ambition, gold, and men. The terrorist states were Athens and Sparta, eccentric cities in a poor and mountainous backwater: Greece. The story of how their citizens took on the Great King of Persia, and thereby saved not only themselves but Western civilization as well, is as heart-stopping and fateful as any episode in history. Tom Holland’s brilliant study of these critical Persian Wars skillfully examines a conflict of critical importance to both ancient and modern history.

• Rubicon
• In the Shadow of the Sword: The Birth of Islam and the Rise of the Global Arab Empire
• Dynasty: The Rise and Fall of the House of Caesar
• Carthage Must Be Destroyed: The Rise and Fall of an Ancient Civilization
• Millennium: The End of the World and the Forging of Christendom
• The Forge of Christendom: The End of Days and the Epic Rise of the West
• Lost to the West: The Forgotten Byzantine Empire That Rescued Western Civilization
• 1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed (Turning Points in Ancient History)
• 1453: The Holy War for Constantinople and the Clash of Islam and the West
• The Dark Ages 476-918 A.D.