Book description
War as Spectacle examines the display of armed conflict in classical antiquity and its impact in the modern world. The contributors address the following questions: how and why was war conceptualized as a spectacle in our surviving ancient Greek and Latin sources? How has this view of war been adapted…
Why read it?
1 author picked War as Spectacle as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
I love this unusual and thoughtful book. It looks not at the realities and practicalities of ancient warfare but at how different societies have made use of the striking, impressive, sometimes pitiable spectacle of ancient war.
Roman poets wrote about the last moments of dying warriors, and ancient Greeks conjured up images of the battlefield in song and dance. War as Spectacle also makes space for thinking about how and why later eras refer back to ancient wars, be it the military dictators of modern Greece or the monument-makers of the USA. This work is a rich cultural experience across…
From Sonya's list on attacking ancient Greek warfare.
If you love War as Spectacle...
Aggressor
It is April 1st, 2038. Day 60 of China's blockade of the rebel island of Taiwan.
The US government has agreed to provide Taiwan with a weapons system so advanced that it can disrupt the balance of power in the region. But what pilot would be crazy enough to run…
Want books like War as Spectacle?
Our community of 13,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like War as Spectacle.
Share your top 3 reads of 2025!
And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.
1,397
readers submitted
so far, will you?
📚 If you like War as Spectacle, you might also like...
The Tao of Poison
A poisonous maiden, a Daoist sex cult, and a violent insurgency.
The polyandrous Yan family in China's rural Shaanxi Province takes in two carpenter brothers. When one brother is convicted of murder after killing their neighbor in a dispute, a constable threatens to expose the family's rumored polyandry and extorts…
Draakensky
A wind sorcerer. A dark spirit. An unsolved murder.
On the haunted Draakensky Windmill Estate, sketch artist Charlotte Knight arrives to live on the property, hired to illustrate the poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke—a bright and lucrative opportunity to boost her struggling art career.
She meets the reclusive spinster Jaa…
