Legion versus Phalanx

Myke Cole has had a colorful and varied career, with a long career in combat and crisis response, beginning as a mercenary on contract to the CIA, and transitioning into a federal intelligence position first with DIA (Defense Intelligence Agency), and finally with the ONI (Office of Naval Intelligence). He currently works for the NYPD in cyber threat intelligence and lives in Brooklyn, NY.He has published extensively in military history and security, including pieces in the journals of the American Association of Museums and the American Historical Association, and is also a popular fantasy novelist with Ace/Roc, the fantasy imprint of Penguin Random House.

• Preface ChronologyMapsPART I: And in this Corner . . . Examining the Legion and the Phalanx1. Who Would Win in a Fight? The Eagle and the Lion2. Not your Father’s Phalanx: The Legacy of Iphicrates3. Mules that Kill: Under the Eagle of RomePART II: Fight! The Legion versus the Phalanx in Six Battles4. Heraclea (280 BC): Rome’s First Test5. Asculum (279 BC): "One more such victory, and we are undone."6. Beneventum (275 BC): Pyrrhus’ Last Gasp 7. Cynoscephalae (197 BC): The Legion Triumphant8. Magnesia (190 BC): No Refuge for Hannibal 9. Pydna (168 BC): The Fall of the Antigonids 10. Legions and PhalanxesGlossary BibliographyIndex

On the face of it, this could be a turgidly dry chin-stroking look into ancient warfare tactics but, thanks the brio of author Myke Cole, it's anything but. [...] The author points out elements that are largely accepted as fact thanks to detailed reports, and others where supposition comes into play, but he does this with a skill that makes it seem like a discussion between friends, not a lecture.With an excellent colour plate section full of photos of armour, illustrations, ancient graphics and diagrams of troop dispositions you have a highly entertaining and yet worthy look into how and why the Roman Legion was so effective against the Phalanx that had previously dominated the battlefield.