Customer Reviews

War in Ancient Egypt: The New Kingdom (Ancient World at War)

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Spalinger has triumphed in his attempt to produce a very scholarly book on such a difficult subject. A casual reader might find him a bit verbose but what he is really trying to do is demonstrate how New Kingdom can be studied in an academic way (you know, with references and citations). This book is sure to be referenced in ancient warfare studies for the next 50 years.

I have read many history books, including many books on Egyptology. I have been very fortunate that most of these books have been well written, some even beautifully written. This book, however, was so badly written it severely impaired my enjoyment of it. The only reason I read it from cover to cover (not an easy feat) was for the information contained in it. The syntax ranges from poor to atrocious. The grammatical mistakes are numerous. Words are misused or used inappropriately. The author has almost no grasp of idiom. There were times when sentences were nonsensical. Moreover, I had the distinct impression that Dr Spalinger put little thought into the writing in that it was unimaginative and bone dry. The fact that it is a scholarly work is no excuse. I have read many scholarly works on many subjects, and most of them did not have the linguistic characteristics of this work. I do not question Dr Spalinger's scholarship, and I am impressed with his argumentation, however I will never read another book written by him. It is simply too painful to see the English language butchered like this and it is too exhausting to derive what I should from Dr Spalinger's linguistic mess.

This book discusses the New Kingdom wars, estimating how much was needed to supply the units, the speed, distances involved, and the military equipment. It had a lot more detail than I needed at times.