Patrick N Hunt

Ne yazık ki çeviri çok kötüydü. Yazım hataları da cabası...
Kitaplığımda aynı yayınevi, aynı mütercime ait; okuma listemde olan 4 kitap daha var ve açıkçası ne yapacağımı bilmez bir haldeyim.
Kronik Kitap'a 4 gün önce mail attım. Mailime bir geri dönüş de alamadım.
Kronik Kitap ile ilgili çok olumlu düşüncelerim vardı. Maalesef ciddi bir hayâl kırıklığı oldu benim için Kronik Kitap...
İlgi çekici konular, önemli yazarlar; iyi bir Türkçe yayın için yeterli olmuyor ne yazık ki.
Alınan teliflerin süreleri nedeniyle, kitapların hak ettiği bir şekilde yayınlandığını ne zaman görürüz; o da meçhul...
Gördüğünüz üzere ne Hannibal'dan bahsetmeye, ne de yazarı Patrick N. Hunt'ın üslûbu üzerine konuşmaya mecal dahi kalmıyor.
Ekleme: Kronik Kitap'tan bugün mailime cevap geldi. Mesajımı editörlerine ilettiklerini belirttiler.… (mais)

Hunt's Hannibal reads like a picturesque documentary of one of history's most enigmatic yet innovative military commanders.

Hannibal Barcid was a Carthagian Military Prince who continued his father, Hamilcar's, prolonged conflict against expansionist Rome. His coup de' grace was delivered when he marched his military coalition from Spain over the 2,974m high Alps and straight into Rome's backyard catching the Roman military off balance and delivering one deadly rout after another to its hitherto feared soldiery.

But the rules of war soon turned on Hannibal. His 16 year romp in Rome's backyard was crowned only by three years of decisive triumph and 13 years of lethargy in which local allies left him; Rome made drastic military changes and Scipio Africanus finally reduced his military successes by emulating him.

Forced to retreat homeward, Hannibal met the same fate as Sikh generalissimo Banda Singh Bahadur and South American liberator Bolivar. Betrayal and infamy at the hands of his own countrymen. Haunted by what could have been and shunned by fairweather friends, Hannibal's sole champion proved to be the man who had vanquished him: Scipio. But even Scipio could not defend him from Carthagian envy which compelled Rome's most feared foe to end his otherwise glorious life.

Hunt primarily relies on the near-accurate works of Polybius; the mythologized hagiographies of Livy; the strategic writings of Sextus Julius Frontinus and the epochal studies of Dexter B. Hoyos coupled with decades long fieldwork to provide an easy to read but tantalizing account of one of antiquity's greatest but most tragic generals. This is a premier study worthy of being read by all leaders in all fields. An excellent read which establishes that no deus ex machina exists to salvage lost opportunities.… (mais)

I read a lot of biographies. I think many times, history is best learned and understood through studying the people that make it.

This biography of the Carthaginian general Hannibal Barca is a pretty substandard effort, all things considered. Writing biographies of ancient personages is a tricky business. Sometimes there is very little source material. In others, what source material exists cannot be certified as accurate. That is certainly the case here, where the sources many times conflict markedly. The two primary sources, Livy and Polybius wrote many years after the events and were naturally biased in their allegiances. Many times, their accounts are widely divergent.

Perhaps more bothersome is the extremely informal writing style practiced by the author. At times, this biography reads like a high school book report. Another problem with the book, and one that I find frequently, is a paucity of maps, which could have assisted in following the action. There are three maps, which set out three important battles (which is pretty much guesswork). After that, there are dozens of pages describing troop movements full of place names and geographical descriptions that are essentially worthless without a map.

I’m sure that the most important, key elements of the story or relatively accurate. After that, the author is largely guessing. Hannibal was a fascinating and historically important shaper of ancient history. Unfortunately, not enough is known about he or his exploits to produce a solid, scholarly work. So, we are left with this, a pretty poor effort.… (mais)

Hannibal Barca is regarded as one of the great military commanders of the Western world, a status which is a little surprising considering that he never actually defeated his great opponent Rome in a war. Part of this honor is undoubtedly due to his success in battle, as in a succession of victories his outnumbered forces defeated the Roman legions sent out to destroy them. Yet Patrick Hunt's new biography of the Carthaginian general points to another reason why he holds such an exalted status, as his success ironically helped the Romans to become the dominant empire we remember it as today.

This, of course, was not Hannibal's goal when he set out to destroy Rome in 218. The son of a Carthaginian statesman who led his country's forces in the First Punic War, Hannibal made revenge the main focus of his life. His achievements in this regard were nothing short of remarkable, as he led his men on a grueling march through the Alps into often hostile territory, where through brilliant generalship and a shrewd exploitation of Celtic grievances he repeatedly bested the troops sent by Rome to defeat them. Yet rather than surrender, Rome adapted by adjusting their leadership structure and adopting a strategy of attrition, trapping Hannibal in a war he couldn't bring to a resolution, The culmination came in the battle of Zama in 202, when Hannibal found the situation neatly reversed, as his untrained army was defeated by the better-managed legions of Scipio Africanus, who used some of Hannibal's own tactics against him in order to win.

Hunt's book offers a knowledgeable overview of Hannibal's life and times. This is no small achievement considering the paucity of sources and their bias -- the only historical sources on Hannibal are Roman ones, with all of the problems that this entails. Often this has the effect of turning his book into more of a history of the Second Punic War than a biography, but the advantage of this is that it highlights what is Hannibal's greatest contribution to history. For while he may not have succeeded in defeating Rome, he became its greatest teacher of the military arts and helped to make them into the empire that would endure for seven centuries and more. This alone makes Hannibal well worth reading about.… (mais)