Cyber Monday for Books

December is your last chance to get Saladin the Strategist and The Art of War in Italy, 1494-1529 at current prices. I have avoided any price increase since they were published, but owing to inflation and rising printing costs, both will go up after Christmas.

Saladin the Strategist examines the eponymous general’s military career, from his first campaigns through the Battle of Hattin and his showdown with Richard the Lionheart. It explores the lessons he learned in his early years, his adaptation to failure, and the development of his operational art leading up to the most lopsided battle in recorded history. Written from the perspective of a command staff, it is a study in decision-making in medieval warfare.

For more on the book, here is my interview with History in Story.

The Art of War in Italy, 1494-1529 is a critical edition of F.L. Taylor’s classic study of the birth of modern combined-arms warfare. Italy was the laboratory for Europe as French, Spanish, German, and Italian armies underwent dramatic transformations in a 35-year period of intense warfare. Written by a veteran of the equally-transformative First World War, this volume examines the changes to infantry, cavalry, artillery, siegecraft, tactics, and strategy in the gunpowder era. It is an excellent introduction to the Italian Wars in particular and to the pike-and-shot era more generally, and stands as an excellent case study in the evolution of combined arms writ-large.

You can read the introduction here, which gives more background on the author’s experience of WWI and how that shaped his understanding. Paid subscribers also receive a free pdf of the book, in addition to access to all monthly long-form pieces.

For subscribers, Part 2 on the Arab-Byzantines wars will be out very shortly.