The Essential Guide to Warfare (Star Wars) [Paperback]

Jason Fry (Author), Paul R. Urquhart (Author)

Book Description

Release date: April 3, 2012 | Series: Star Wars

THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO THE ULTIMATE INTERGALACTIC BATTLEFIELD
 
Like many a great epic, Star Wars is rooted in a rich history of armed conflict. Now, for the first time, the facts, figures, and fascinating backstories of major clashes and combatants in the vast Star Wars universe have been documented in one fully illustrated volume. Extensively researched and inventively written, Star Wars: The Essential Guide to Warfare combines action-filled narrative with encyclopedic knowledge that:
 
• explores notable military units and groups
• traces the development of significant armaments and technologies
• profiles key warship classes, ground units, and manufacturers
• provides capsule biographies of great military leaders
• presents eyewitness troopers’ accounts of combat
• plus—enough additional profiles, intel, history, and lore to span the cosmos!
 
Encompassing all of the Star Wars media, including the legendary films, the hit TV series Star Wars: The Clone Wars, the bestselling books, comics, and videogames, and packed with original full-color artwork, Star Wars: The Essential Guide to Warfare is a conquering achievement.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Jason Fry is a writer in Brooklyn, New York, where he lives with his wife, son, and about a metric ton of Star Wars stuff.
 
Paul R. Urquhart is a pseudonym. He was born in Scotland between Star Wars: A New Hope and Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back and has been a Star Wars fan since he bought his first toy X-wing at the age of three. Although occasionally mistaken for a larger-than-life Ewok, he is in fact a historian, specializing in medieval society.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: LucasBooks; Reprint edition (April 3, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345477626
• ISBN-13: 978-0345477620
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 0.6 x 10.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #70,300 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #36 in Books > Humor & Entertainment > Movies > Reference

More About the Author

One way or another, I've written or worked with writers all my life -- I've made a living at various times as a reporter, columnist, editor, blogger and book author. (Most of the time it's been a combination of some or all of those things.)

I am a writer, editor, and consultant based in Brooklyn, N.Y. I spent more than 12 years at The Wall Street Journal Online, where I wrote the "Real Time" column about technology and co-wrote "The Daily Fix," a daily roundup of great sportswriting. I've also worked as the Web evangelist for EidosMedia, a Milan-based maker of innovative editing-and-publishing software. I explore the future of journalism in the digital age at my blog Reinventing the Newsroom (www.reinventingthenewsroom.com) and co-write Faith and Fear in Flushing (www.faithandfearinflushing.com), a blog about the New York Mets, with my friend Greg Prince. (Both blogs are available for your Kindle.) As a member of the Poynter Review project, I serve as an ombudsman for ESPN.

Oh, and I like Star Wars.

Whether you're writing about your own characters, an imaginary galaxy, a nearby baseball team, the perils of journalism or the promise of technology, the path to becoming a successful writer is the same: Write every day, learn from other writers and from good editors, push your writing to make sure it's as clear and engaging as possible, and value every form of writing you get to do.

For more about me, see my personal page at www.jasonfry.net.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Star Wars Essential Guide Yet! April 4, 2012

By Peter Morrison

Format:Paperback

They don't call it Star Peace for a reason, authors Jason Fry and Paul Urquhart put the war in Star Wars with the latest edition in the Essential Guide series, Star Wars: Essential Guide to Warfare.

This book has long been in development originally planned to be the Essential Guide to the Star Wars Military was announced in 2008 and to be authored by Karen Traviss before her Ba'slan shev'la from the galaxy far, far away.

Image from Starwars.com
I have been a constant reader of the Star Wars Expanded Universe since it's modern rebirth under Timothy Zahn in the early 1990s, but early in the EU the Essential Guide line was something that while I read felt rather shallow. This first generation of EG's as defined by Wookieepedia ended with the EG to Alien Species, later we saw a second generation of books along the same subject lines updated and re-branded as "new." I didn't pay close attention to this second generation as it largely came during the Dark Times of my personal fandom. My return to the Essential Guide line came with 2007's Jedi vs. Sith: The Essential Guide to the Force by Ryder Windham.

The addition of new original content as well as a gigantic leap forward in the artistic illustrations in the books really began for me with the Essential Guide to the Force. This book was by the breathtakingly geeky Essential Atlas by Daniel Wallace and Jason Fry, which took fictional stellar cartography to unparalleled heights.

As a Star Wars book nerd, my most anticipated EG book is Pablo Hidalgo's forthcoming The Essential Reader's Companion. That being said, Del Rey's Star Wars Facebook page has been releasing sneak peaks of The Essential Guide to Warfare's artwork for awhile now and my excitement has been slowly building.

What authors Jason Fry and Paul Urquhart deliver in this book far exceeded my expectations and sent my inner fanboy into fits of giggles.

The Essential Guide to Warfare reads like an exceptionally well done college history seminar textbook. You have a mixture of secondary source accounts, primary source excerpts along with a historical narrative and technical discussion. It is the synthesis of all these elements that comes together so well.

Before I go any farther it would be a shame not to mention the many artists who contributed some really imaginative and fun pieces of art to this book. Much of this books impressiveness is do to the work of;
Drew Baker, Tommy Lee Edwards, Ian Fullwood, Ansel Hsiao, Stephan Martiniere, Modi, Jason Palmer, Chris Scalf, Dave Seeley, Darren Tan, John Vanfleet, Bruno Werneck, and Paul Youll.

Image from Star Wars Books Facebook
The book covers the entire span of conflict in the Star Wars universe from its earliest beginnings to the events in Dark Horse Comics' Legacy series. Mixed into the overall historical narrative there are detailed break downs of the ships and technology of war, profiles of important military leaders, detailed campaign maps and a bit of gallows humor thrown in for fun.

There is a tremendous amount of character depth and world building going on in this book, by creating in-universe primary source documents and secondary source accounts we get facts that had previously been created in various sources from role-playing guides to novels coalesce to give you what feels like the author's where sitting between the stacks of the Celebratus Archive at Obroa-skai juggling sheets of flimsi and data-tapes.

Without giving away all the goodies in the book, there were a few sections that made me totally geek out; the inclusion of D'harhan, Han Solo, the Ewoks, and Kal Skirata made this a tremendously enjoyable read.

Hardcore Clone Trooper, Mandalorian and Republic Commando fans will be most happy, we may not have gotten Omega Squad, the Null-ARCs or the Mando training sergeants in The Clone Wars animated series yet, but .... Go buy The Essential Guide to Warfare and you may still be grinning like this impressed fanboy.

~Peter for LightsaberRattling.com

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars What I've come to expect from the Essential Guides April 30, 2012

By Brian Mess

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

As can be said of the The New Essential Chronology or The Essential Atlas of the same series, the artwork is spectacular and the information is instructive even for hardcore fans such as myself. Further, small original narratives add a great deal to the ambiance and enjoyment of the work. No buyer's remorse at all for this product, great for any fan.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb-- Any Star Wars fan's dream! April 28, 2012

By SuperT

Format:Paperback

There's something to be said about a franchise that not only inspires countless tales, but inspires textbook-like volumes cataloging the exploits of the major (and minor) players in the battles of that galaxy far, far away. In this book you will find in-universe excerpts from soldiers and generals alike, spanning the entire Star Wars saga and involving the Jedi, Empire, Mandalorians, and almost any other group you can name. The book details the most important battles taking place all over the Star Wars timeline, from 25,000 years before A New Hope to over 100 years after Return of the Jedi. With breathtaking, full-color artwork from some of the most skillful Star Wars artists, this book is a must-have for any fan!