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With Arrow, Sword, and Spear: A History of Warfare in the Ancient World. By Alfred S. Bradford. Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 2000. ISBN 0-2759259-2. Maps. Illustrations. Diagrams. Sources. Index. Pp. xviii, 312. $64.50.
Reading this book evokes the current cultural phenomenon of "retro" in music and fashion. Alfred S. Bradford, best known for studies of Spartan prosopography, now expands his scholarly gaze to Eurasian military history from Mesopotamia c. 3000 B.C. to the fall fo Rome in the West and the end of the Later Han in China. The work closely follows "those ancient sources which show personal knowledge of warfare, emphasizes significant changes in technology, tactics, and organization [e.g., horse-drawn charioteers with the composite bow as the most significant change in weaponry until nuclear arms, p. 277], and analyzes the campaigns of the foremost military leaders of the ancient world" (p. xiii). Analysis of events and generalship...