This is an international collection spanning over 2,000 years of history. Two books are from China, one from India, two from Italy, and two from Japan. These works provide insight into the thinking of warlords and kings who ruled across Asia and Europe in ancient times. Some of these books are focused more on war and military science (Art of War, Book of Five Rings, Hagakure), others are more self-reflective and develop an ethical philosophy (Analects, Meditations), and others still are focused more on politics and ruling (Arthashastra, The Prince). Each of these books provides a unique and historical perspective regarding these topics, and they complement each other in tracing deep insight into the nature of leadership, war, politics, and statecraft.
This is a collection of seven classics works of war and politics and include: "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu; "The Analects" by Confucius; "The Arthashastra" by Chanakya (Kautilya); "The Meditations" by Marcus Aurelius; "The Prince" by Niccolo Machiavelli; "The Book of Five Rings" by Miyamoto Musashi; and "The Hagakure" by Yamamoto Tsunetomo.This is an international collection, with two books from China, one from India, two from Europe, and two from Japan. The books also span over 2,000 years of history. Some of these books are focused mainly on war and military science (Art of War, Book of Five Rings, Hagakure), others are more self-reflective and develop an ethical philosophy (Analects, Meditations), and others still are focused more on politics and ruling (Arthashastra, The Prince). All have transcended their times and are seen as classics that are worth of study and fully relevant for today.Each of these works provides a unique and historical perspective regarding these topics, and they complement each other in tracing deep insight into the nature of leadership, war, and politics.The editing process reduces the repetition and unnecessary commentary and cruft, and clarifies what is essential and insightful in the works using modern English prose. This process is an abridgement: "condensing or reduction of a book or other creative work into a shorter form while maintaining the unity of the source."The goal of this project is to produce a collection of works with clear and modern English that showcases the timeless insights which these classics have within them.
The Seven Military Classics is one of the most profound studies of warfare ever written, a stanchion in sinological and military history. It presents an Eastern tradition of strategic thought that emphasizes outwitting one's opponent through speed, stealth, flexibility, and a minimum of force -- an approach very different from that stressed in the West. Safeguarded for centuries by the ruling elite of imperial China, even in modern times these writings have been known only to a handful of Western specialists. This volume contains seven separate essays, written between 500 BCE and 700 CE, that preserve the essential tenets of strategy distilled from the experience of the most brilliant warriors of ancient China.
The Analects, literally Edited Conversations, is a collection of aphorisms and brief conversations attributed to Confucius, but most likely not written during his lifetime. The standard translations of this work are usually stuffed with additional commentary, and difficult to follow. This new modern edition includes the clearest aphorisms and an introductory essay.
Marcus Aurelius was the Emperor of Rome from 161 to 180 CE, and is considered the last of the Five Good Emperors. He was a Stoic Philosopher and his work The Meditations (literally things to one’s self) is a set of private notes and thoughts. It is considered to be one of the greatest extant works of stoic philosophy. Each translation of The Meditations by Marcus Aurelius takes some liberties. Words are added and some removed in order to better reach meaning and understanding. This latest translation and new modern edition is meant to restore some of these missing elements, and provide a clear and accurate presentation of this great classic in English.
This book provides a timely analysis of the politics, philosophy, and history of Chinese power, focusing on social, strategic, and diplomatic trends that have shaped China for over three thousand years. Chinese elites have used the past to inform the present, but have also mobilized new ideas to address the country’s rapid transition to global power. China’s intellectual world can draw on a surprisingly pluralist legacy. When Chinese thinkers assess “power,” they bring to bear their classical legacy, the military classics, Chinese socialism, and Western political thought. There are also a number of intriguing formulations that give shape to the exercise of Chinese power. Among these are comprehensive national strength, stability preservation, soft power, asymmetric conflict, and counter-intervention strategies. This book looks at key periods in Chinese history when attitudes to power evolved and at their current expressions. These include China’s expanded use of think tanks to chart the future, efforts at creating an eco-civilization to balance growth, and an extended set of security and information capabilities. From observing the centrality of power in today’s international affairs, the book moves to the foundational concepts of Chinese governance: its belief in a strategic configuration of power—as understood in military contexts—as well as its growing diplomatic and maritime engagement abroad. This analysis culminates in new ideas of functional multipolarity. Power is also deployed internally: China’s use of nationalism as a major tool for state-building and cohesion, the ongoing role of socialism, and the People’s Liberation Army are all examined in this light. China’s current strategic culture has shaped President Xi Jinping’s search for a new model of power for China in the twenty-first century, an endeavor that will have serious implications for the future global order. This book provides an alternative perspective on China’s trajectory towards a revised international system.
The first book in English to study this period of Chinese history, this comprehensive survey sets out the major military events in chapters and argues that war was the most important tool used by the Chinese in building and maintaining their empire.
Although Antiquity itself has been intensively researched, together with its reception, to date this has largely happened in a compartmentalized fashion. This series presents for the first time an interdisciplinary contextualization of the productive acquisitions and transformations of the arts and sciences of Antiquity in the slow process of the European societies constructing a scientific system and their own cultural identity, a process which started in the Middle Ages and has continued up to the Modern Age. The series is a product of work in the Collaborative Research Centre "Transformations of Antiquity" and the "August Boeckh Centre of Antiquity" at the Humboldt University of Berlin. Their individual projects examine transformational processes on three levels in particular ‒ the constitutive function of Antiquity in the formation of the European knowledge society, the role of Antiquity in the genesis of modern cultural identities and self-constructions, and the forms of reception in art, literature, translation and media.
