Skip to content
Responsive image
Vendor
Mohrbooks Literary Agency
Sebastian Ritscher
Original language
English
Categories

HANNIBAL

Patrick Hunt

Along with Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar, Hannibal is always ranked among the great generals of the ancient world. He is highly regarded to this day by military strategists and his exploits are of perennial interest. Our author, Patrick Hunt is perhaps the leading expert on Hannibal. He has studied Hannibal's routes in the Alps with support from Stanford University and the National Geographic Society.
The book chronicles the life of this great commander. From the time he was a teenager, Hannibal fought against Rome. He is famed for leading Carthage’s army across north Africa, into Spain, along the Mediterranean coast, and then crossing the Alps with his army and war elephants. Hannibal won victories in northern Italy by outmaneuvering his Roman adversaries and defeated a larger Roman army at the battle of Cannae in 216 BC. Unable to force Rome to capitulate, he was eventually forced to leave Italy and return to Carthage when a savvy Roman general named Scipio invaded north Africa. Hannibal and Scipio fought an epic battle at Zama, which Hannibal lost. The terms of surrender were harsh and many Carthaginians blamed Hannibal, eventually forcing him into exile until his death.

To this day Hannibal is still regarded as a military genius. Napoleon, George Patton, and Norman Schwarzkopf, Jr. are only some of the generals who studied and admired him. His strategy and tactics are still taught in military academies. He is one of the figures of the ancient world whose life and exploits never fail to impress. Historian Patrick N. Hunt has led archeological expeditions in the Alps and elsewhere to study Hannibal’s achievements. Now he brings Hannibal’s incredible story to life in this riveting and dramatic book.

It’s a terrific read and for anyone who loves history, military history, or larger-than-life characters.

Dr. Patrick Hunt is Stanford University's Director of Alpine Archeology and the author of 10 DISCOVERIES THAT REWROTE HISTORY. He has been featured on the History Channel and in Archaeology magazine for his Hannibal alpine research and directs Stanford’s Alpine Archaeology project in France, Italy, and Switzerland.
Available products
Book

Published 2017-07-11 by Simon & Schuster

Book

Published 2017-07-11 by Simon & Schuster

Comments

Hebrew: Yedioth ; Lithuanian: Balto Trader

From opening anecdote to closing argument, Hunt’s biography engages fully with both Hannibal the legend and Hannibal the man—telling us what can and should be known about the man while acknowledging the ambiguities and contradictions of the legend. Was Hannibal a military genius or a lucky gambler, a self-propelled comet or the instrument of fate, a figure of terror or of pathos? All of these, and much more.

Patrick Hunt is one of the world’s greatest experts on Hannibal. He brings that magnificent commander to life, with verve and in detail, in this wonderful book. Hannibal is must reading for all students of military history.

Patrick Hunt's Hannibal is a rare combination of impeccable scholarship and good writing. Knowing what the author knows, this biography could have been 900 pages long; instead it hits the scales at below 300, the perfect fighting weight for one of history's most lethal combatants.

Hannibal is one of the great military generals of history. Even after the passage of more than two thousand years, his bold exploits, above all in Italy, challenging Rome to a duel in her own back yard, capture the imagination. And that is before we even mention the extraordinary crossing of the Alps that he made in order to achieve that, elephants and all. Patrick Hunt, who has for decades been researching Hannibal, including much personal fieldwork on the ground retracing Hannibal’s footsteps, distills a lifetime’s knowledge and experience in this lively and compelling narrative. It is a tale worth the retelling, and Hunt expounds it in gripping detail and with scholarly and judicious judgment. Right up-to-date with the latest academic debate, the book is written with verve and passion. It is about personal bravery, loyalty, perseverance and strategic genius – and it also about the violent clash of two world superpowers, a story that resonates down into our own age.