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The Art of War (Everyman's Library Classics Series)
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About The Art Of War
Product Description The ancient Chinese military classic that is widely admired today by both military and business strategists--in a new translation, with new notes and commentary. For more than two thousand years, The Art of War has provided leaders with essential tactical and management advice. An elemental part of Chinese culture, it has also become a touchstone in the West for achieving success, whether on the battlefield or in business. This Everyman's Library edition features a brilliant new translation by Peter Harris. Alongside the pithy and powerful ancient text, Harris includes: --Extracts from the canon of traditional Chinese commentators who have explained Sun Tzu's wisdom over the centuries --Notes --A bibliography --A chronology of Chinese dynasties --A map --An illuminating introduction on the warrior-philosopher Sun Tzu and the role of The Art of War in history and today Review “Like Thucydides, [Sun Tzu] has a reputation today at least as great as it was well over two millennia ago . . . Given the peculiarly personal acumen and insight that inform Sun Tzu’s brief, sometimes enigmatic, but always practical Art of War . . . we are surely reading the words of an acutely intelligent military man with a subtle, original mind and a wealth of experience all his own.” —from the Introduction by Peter Harris About the Author SUN TZU was a Chinese general, military strategist, and philosopher who lived in China in the 6th century BC. Sun Tzu is traditionally credited as the author of The Art of War, a widely influential work of military strategy that has affected both Western and Eastern philosophy. Sun Tzu is revered in China as a legendary historical figure. His birth name was Sun Wu; the name Sun Tzu by which he is best known is an honorific that means "Master Sun." PETER HARRIS is a specialist in the political and cultural history of China. He is the founding Director of the Asian Studies Institute at Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand, and a Visiting Professor at Nanjing University, China. He has written, edited and translated numerous books on China and Asia. Other volumes he edited for Everyman's Library include The Travels of Marco Polo, Zen Poems, and Three Hundred Tang Poems. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. from the INTRODUCTION by Peter Harris A phrase often used to describe the dangers inherent in the rapidly changing relationship between the United States and China is the ‘Thucydides trap’. Even the Chinese President, Xi Jinping, has alluded to it, if only to express the hope that it can be avoided. The phrase is used to refer to Thucydides’ remark, when considering the origins of the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta in the late fifth century BCE, that ‘what made the war inevitable was the growth of Athenian power and the fear which this caused in Sparta’ – Sparta being the United States in today’s world, of course, and Athens being China. (In fact the phrase ‘Thucydides trap’ is misleading for several reasons, not the least being that Thucydides never wrote about a trap as such. But this is not the place to dwell on that.) Thucydides’ remark about the inevitability of war between Athens and Sparta reflects his determinedly realist view of the world, with its steady focus on power and self-interest. The Athenian historian would have been surprised to learn that as he applied this realism to his History of the Peloponnesian War, another arch-realist halfway around the world had been making his mark (or would soon be doing so, depending on which dates for his life we accept) with his own penetrating discussion of interstate rivalry and power. This was the Chinese general Sun Tzu, or Master Sun. Sun Tzu (or Sun Zi, if written with the romanisation now used in mainland China, zi meaning ‘master’) was a military man and a strategist, rather than a military historian. But he shared Thucydides’ sense of realpo
