The First Clash

March 15, 2011
The Battle of Marathon 25 centuries ago receives intensive military analysis in this account by a former U.S. Army officer. By his emphasis on arms, Lacey presents the battle slightly differently than did classicist Richard Billows, whose Marathon (2010) elevated cultural and political factors in his explanation of Athens repulse of the invading Persians. Both historians are as one, however, in concluding that Marathon saved the beginnings of what would become Western civilization. The extra though not exclusive weight Lacey gives to strictly military components in the battles outcome prompts his explication of the opposing forces organization, encompassing the raising of troops, weaponry, and battlefield deployment. But Lacey acknowledges these technicalities as outgrowths of governmental structures of the Greek city-state and the polyglot imperial power and recounts each sides political history (derived from interpretive reading of Herodotus) in the decades building up to 490 BCE. Discussing such fine points as which Athenian commander merits credit for winning Marathon, Laceys swords-and-shields approach will absorb readers ever fascinated by the famous battles of antiquity.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)