Persian Fire: The First World Empire, Battle for the West - 'Magisterial' Books of the Year, Independent

Prose: non-fiction, History

Imprint

Abacus
- Paperback Oct 30, 2006 | 9780349117171 | RRP $27.99 Buy Now
- Audiobook Sep 5, 2019 | 9781405544238 | RRP $35.99 Buy Now
- e-Book Apr 21, 2011 | 9780748131037 | RRP $14.99 Buy Now
- Audiobook Oct 6, 2005 | 9781405502023 | RRP $30.99 Buy Now
Imprint

Little, Brown Audio
- Paperback Oct 30, 2006 | 9780349117171 | RRP $27.99 Buy Now
- Audiobook Sep 5, 2019 | 9781405544238 | RRP $35.99 Buy Now
- e-Book Apr 21, 2011 | 9780748131037 | RRP $14.99 Buy Now
- Audiobook Oct 6, 2005 | 9781405502023 | RRP $30.99 Buy Now
Imprint

Abacus
- Paperback Oct 30, 2006 | 9780349117171 | RRP $27.99 Buy Now
- Audiobook Sep 5, 2019 | 9781405544238 | RRP $35.99 Buy Now
- e-Book Apr 21, 2011 | 9780748131037 | RRP $14.99 Buy Now
- Audiobook Oct 6, 2005 | 9781405502023 | RRP $30.99 Buy Now
Imprint

Little, Brown Audio
- Paperback Oct 30, 2006 | 9780349117171 | RRP $27.99 Buy Now
- Audiobook Sep 5, 2019 | 9781405544238 | RRP $35.99 Buy Now
- e-Book Apr 21, 2011 | 9780748131037 | RRP $14.99 Buy Now
- Audiobook Oct 6, 2005 | 9781405502023 | RRP $30.99 Buy Now

A brilliant new account of the world's very first clash of civilisations between the Persians and the Greeks in 480BC.

In 480 BC, Xerxes, the King of Persia, led an invasion of mainland Greece. Its success should have been a formality. For seventy years, victory - rapid, spectacular victory - had seemed the birthright of the Persian Empire. In the space of a single generation, they had swept across the Near East, shattering ancient kingdoms, storming famous cities, putting together an empire which stretched from India to the shores of the Aegean.

As a result of those conquests, Xerxes ruled as the most powerful man on the planet. Yet somehow, astonishingly, against the largest expeditionary force ever assembled, the Greeks of the mainland managed to hold out. The Persians were turned back. Greece remained free. Had the Greeks been defeated at Salamis, not only would the West have lost its first struggle for independence and survival, but it is unlikely that there would ever have been such and entity as the West at all.

Tom Holland's brilliant new book describes the very first 'clash of Empires' between East and West. Once again he has found extraordinary parallels between the ancient world and our own. There is no competing popular book describing these events.

Praise for Persian Fire: The First World Empire, Battle for the West - 'Magisterial' Books of the Year, Independent

Gripping and authoritative ... An awe-inspiring story of the struggle for freedom - Express
Confident, fluent and accessible, and with salutary lessons for our own times, this is history at its best - The Times

Tom Holland

Tom Holland is an award-winning historian, author and broadcaster. His bestselling books include Rubicon: The Triumph and the Tragedy of the Roman Republic, which won the Hessell-Tiltman Prize for History and was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize; Persian Fire, which won the Anglo-Hellenic League's Runciman Award; Millennium: The End of the World and the Forging of Christendom; In the Shadow of the Sword: The Battle for Global Empire and the End of the Ancient World; Dynasty: The Rise and Fall of the House of Caesar; and Dominion: The Making of the Western Mind.

Holland has adapted Homer, Herodotus, Thucydides and Virgil for the BBC. His translation of Herodotus was published in 2013 by Penguin Classics and followed in 2016 by a history of A thelstan published under the Penguin Monarchs series, and in 2019 A thelflA d England's Forgotten Founder as a Ladybird Expert Book. In 2007, he was the winner of the Classical Association prize, awarded to 'the individual who has done most to promote the study of the language, literature and civilisation of Ancient Greece and Rome'.

Holland hosts (with Dominic Sandbrook) the no.1 podcast The Rest is History. He has written and presented a number of TV documentaries for the BBC and Channel 4, on subjects ranging from religion to dinosaurs. He served two years as the Chair of the Society of Authors; as Chair of the PLR Advisory Committee and was on the committee of the Classical Association.

@holland_tom