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  • Persian Fire

  • The First World Empire and the Battle for the West
  • Written by: Tom Holland
  • Narrated by: Andrew Sachs
  • Length: 6 hrs and 22 mins
  • 3.2 out of 5 stars (5 ratings)

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Persian Fire

Written by: Tom Holland
Narrated by: Andrew Sachs
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Publisher's Summary

In 480 BC, Xerxes, the King of Persia, led an invasion of mainland Greece. Its success should have been a formality. For 70 years, victory, rapid, spectacular victory, had seemed the birthright of the Persian Empire. In the space of a single generation, they had swept across the Near East, shattering ancient kingdoms, storming famous cities, putting together an empire which stretched from India to the shores of the Aegean. As a result of those conquests, Xerxes ruled as the most powerful man on the planet. Yet somehow, astonishingly, against the largest expeditionary force ever assembled, the Greeks of the mainland managed to hold out. The Persians were turned back. Greece remained free. Had the Greeks been defeated at Salamis, not only would the West have lost its first struggle for independence and survival, but it is unlikely that there would ever have been such an entity as the West at all.

Tom Holland's brilliant new book describes the very first "clash of Empires" between East and West. Once again he has found extraordinary parallels between the ancient world and our own. There is no competing popular book describing these events.
©2005 Tom Holland (P)2005 Time Warner AudioBooks
  • Abridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History
Middle East Military Greece World
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What the critics say

"Incendiary stuff. Sparkling insight and no less sparkling writing." (Independent)

"Excellent." (Sunday Times)

What listeners say about Persian Fire

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Profile Image for Benyamin

PERSIAN?

The proprietary of the name of this book can be only compared to a book about Brad Pitt's drinking problem called "Angelina Jolie"!

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Profile Image for Farsheed

Misleading book

I was extremely disappointed in this book.

1. He calls Cyrus the great, “ignorant” because Cyrus doesn’t know Spartans. The man who brought the 1st human right charter.

2. This book is all about Greece, why didn’t you call it Greek Fire?

3. He starts by comparing Osama to Persian. Persian ought not to be compared. Persians were also Victim of Islam.

4. Again, it not about Persian.

Please change the title.


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Profile Image for Cheryl G

A Sense of Immediacy

While sometimes difficult to keep all the actors straight (I slept through a lot of Greek history in university) everyone is brought wonderfully to life. I felt a real sense of suspense while listening to much of this. Andrew Sachs reading is wonderful!

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