Steven Pressfield Books In Order

Standalone Novels In Publication Order

  1. The Legend of Bagger Vance of Golf and the Game of Life (1995)
  2. Gates of Fire: An Epic Novel of the Battle of Thermopylae (1998)
  3. Tides of War (2000)
  4. Last of the Amazons (2002)
  5. Alexander: The Virtues of War (2004)
  6. The Afghan Campaign (2006)
  7. Killing Rommel (2008)
  8. The Profession (2011)
  9. The Knowledge: A Too Close to True Novel (2016)
  10. 36 Righteous Men (2019)
  11. A Man at Arms (2021)

Non-Fiction Books In Publication Order

  1. The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles (2002)
  2. Do the Work (2011)
  3. The Warrior Ethos (2011)
  4. Turning Pro: Tap Your Inner Power and Create Your Life’s Work (2012)
  5. The Authentic Swing (2013)
  6. The Lion’s Gate (2014)
  7. An American Jew (2015)
  8. Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*t: Why That Is and What You Can Do About It (2016)
  9. The Artist’s Journey: The Wake of the Hero’s Journey and the Lifelong Pursuit of Meaning (2018)

Standalone Novels Book Covers

Non-Fiction Book Covers

Steven Pressfield Books Overview

The Legend of Bagger Vance of Golf and the Game of Life

In the Depression year of 1931, on the golf links at Krewe Island off Savannah’s windswept shore, two legends of the game Bobby Jones and Walter Hagen meet for a mesmerizing thirty six hole showdown. Another golfer will also compete a troubled local war hero, once a champion, who comes with his mentor and caddie, the mysterious Bagger Vance. It is Vance, sage and charismatic, who will ultimately guide the match, for he holds the secret of the Authentic Swing. And he alone can show his protege the way back to glory. Written in the spirit of Gold in the Kingdom and The Natural, The Legend of Bagger Vance reveals the true nature of the game in a story that is unforgettable.

Gates of Fire: An Epic Novel of the Battle of Thermopylae

‘Go tell the Spartans, stranger passing by, that here obedient to their laws we lie.’ Thus reads an ancient stone at Thermopylae in northern Greece, the site of one of the world’s greatest battles for freedom. Here, in 480 B.C., on a narrow mountain pass above the crystalline Aegean, 300 Spartan knights and their allies faced the massive forces of Xerxes, King of Persia. From the start, there was no question but that the Spartans would perish. In Gates of Fire, however, Steven Pressfield makes their courageous defense and eventual extinction unbearably suspenseful. In the tradition of Mary Renault, this rare unabridged audiobook of this historical novel unfolds in flashback. Xeo, the sole Spartan survivor of Thermopylae, has been captured by the Persians, and Xerxes himself presses his young captive to reveal how his tiny cohort kept more than 100,000 Persians at bay for a week. Xeo, however, begins at the beginning, when his childhood home in northern Greece was overrun and he escaped to Sparta. There he is drafted into the elite Spartan guard and rigorously schooled in the art of war an education brutal enough to destroy half the students, but oddly enough not without humor: ‘The more miserable the conditions, the more convulsing the jokes became, or at least that’s how it seems,’ Xeo recalls. His companions in arms are Alexandros, a gentle boy who turns out to be the most courageous of all, and Rooster, an angry, half Messenian youth. Pressfield’s descriptions of war are breathtaking in their immediacy. They are also meticulously assembled out of physical detail and crisp, uncluttered metaphor:

Tides of War

In Tides of War, Steven Pressfield brings the historical precision and heartbreaking human scale that made his previous novel Gates of Fire an international bestseller to an even more epic saga of Greek strife and conflict. One man. Two armies. The fate of the ancient world in the balance. If history is the biography of extraordinary men, the life of Alcibiades 451 404 B.C. comprises an indispensable chapter in the chronicle of the Western world. Kinsman of Pericles, prot g of Socrates, Alcibiades was acknowledged the most brilliant and charismatic personality of his day. Plutarch, Plato, and Thucydides have all immortalized him. As the pride of Achilles drove the course of the Trojan War, so Alcibiades’ will and ambition set their stamp upon the Peloponnesian War the twenty seven year civil conflagration between the Athenian empires, Sparta, and the Peloponnesian league. As a commander on land and sea, Alcibiades was never defeated. The destinies of Athens and her favored son were inextricably intertwined. Man and city mirrored each other in boldness, ambition, and vulnerability. Allied, they swept from victory to victory. Apart, he guided her foes to glory. Of the spell Alcibiades cast over his contemporaries, Aristophanes wrote that Athens ‘loves, and hates, and cannot do without him.’ To the end, their renown and ruin were indissoluble. Recounted by Alcibiades’ captain of marines in a mesmerizing death row confession, Tides of War is historical fiction at its finest a multidimensional, flesh and blood renarration of one of history’s pivotal conflicts.

Last of the Amazons

The author of the international bestsellers Gates of Fire and Tides of War delivers his most gripping and imaginative novel of the ancient world a stunning epic of love and war that breathes life into the grand myth of the ferocious female warrior culture of the Amazons. Steven Pressfield has gained a passionate worldwide following for his magnificent novels of ancient Greece, Gates of Fire and Tides of War. In Last of the Amazons, Pressfield has surpassed himself, re creating a vanished world in a brilliant novel that will delight his loyal readers and bring legions more to his singular and powerful restoration of the past. In the time before Homer, the legendary Theseus, King of Athens an actual historical figure, set sail on a journey that brought him into the land of tal Kyrte, the free people, a nation of proud female warriors whom the Greeks called Amazons. The Amazons, bound to each other as lovers as well as fighters, distrusted the Greeks, with their boastful talk of civilization. So when the great war queen Antiope fell in love with Theseus and fled with the Greeks, the mighty Amazon nation rose up in rage. Last of the Amazons is not merely a masterful tale of war and revenge. Pressfield has created a cast of extraordinarily vivid characters, from the unforgettable Selene, whose surrender to the Greeks does nothing to tame her; to her lover, Damon, an Athenian warrior who grows to cherish the wild Amazon ways; to the narrator, Bones, a young girl from a noble family who was nursed by Selene from birth and secretly taught the Amazon way; to the great Theseus, the tragic king; and to Antiope, the noble queen who betrayed tal Kyrte for the love of Theseus. With astounding immediacy and extraordinary attention to military detail, Pressfield transports readers into the heat and terror of war. Equally impressive is his creation of the Amazon nation, its people, its rituals and myths, its greatness and savagery. Last of the Amazons is thrilling on every page, an epic tale of the clash between wildness and civilization, patriotism and love, man and woman. From the Hardcover edition.

Alexander: The Virtues of War

Alexander the Great 356 323 B.C. ascended to the throne of Macedon at the age of twenty. He fought his greatest battles including the conquest of the mighty Persian Empire before he was twenty five and died at the age of thirty three, still undefeated by any enemy. His reputation as a supreme warrior and leader of men is unsurpassed in the annals of history. In the brilliantly imagined first person voice of Alexander the Great, acclaimed novelist Steven Pressfield brings to life his epic battles, his unerring command of his forces, and the passions and ambitions that drove him. A full blooded, multidimensional portrait, THE VIRTUES OF WAR captures Alexander’s complex character. Alexander was a fearless commander who moved with such daring and speed that no army could withstand him; a driven leader whose ambitions knew no limits; and a man with boundless compassion for his troops, deep friendships with his generals, and profound respect for his enemies. Yet in the end, his noble qualities were subsumed by his insatiable lust for glory. No one writes about battles as brilliantly as Pressfield, and in THE VIRTUES OF WAR he vividly describes the seminal conflicts of Alexander s career, revealing the tactics behind them and capturing the blood, heat, and terror of the battlefield. He follows Alexander s forces as they faced and defeated armies that far outnumbered them; delivers a thrilling frontline report from Gaugamela, the scene of Alexander s greatest victory; and, in a memorable vignette, shows the great conqueror finally halted, not by an enemy but by the refusal of his worn out troops to march any farther. Epic in scope and magisterial in tone, THE VIRTUES OF WAR is sure to take its place among the classics of historical fiction.

The Afghan Campaign

In words that might have been ripped from today’s combat dispatches, Steven Pressfield, the bestselling novelist of ancient warfare, returns with a riveting historical novel that re creates Alexander the Great s invasion of the Afghan kingdoms in 330 B.C., a campaign that eerily foreshadows the tactics, terrors, and frustrations of contemporary conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Narrated by Matthias, a young infantryman in Alexander s army, The Afghan Campaign explores the challenges, both military and moral, that Alexander and his soldiers face as they embark on a new type of war and are forced to adapt to the methods of a ruthless foe that employs terror and insurgent tactics, conceals itself among the civilian populace, and recruits women and boys as combatants. Matthias joins Alexander s army after it has conquered the Persian empire and is advancing east into Afghanistan on its way to the riches of India. Part of a unit that includes recruits his own age as well as veterans, Matthias chronicles his rapid coming of age as a soldier as he enacts Alexander s scorch and burn strategies, experiences the joys and sorrows of a romance with an Afghan girl, and faces the barbarism of the Afghans, his fellow soldiers, and ultimately himself. As Matthias relates the brutal day to day encounters between the two sides, he exposes the human cost borne by a company of men whose code is humanist and secular when they seek to impose their will on a people of deep religiosity, insularity, unbending pride, and a passionate readiness to die for their cause. An edge of your seat adventure that brings to life the confrontation between an invading Western army and fierce Eastern warriors determined at all costs to defend their homeland, The Afghan Campaign once again demonstrates Steven Pressfield s profound understanding of the hopes and desperation of men in battle and of the historical realities that continue to influence our world.

Killing Rommel

To watch videos featuring the story behind Killing Rommel, visit www. KillingRommel. com Steven Pressfield’s quintet of acclaimed, bestselling novels of ancient warfare Gates of Fire, Tides of War, Last of the Amazons, The Virtues of War, and The Afghan Campaign have earned him a reputation as a master chronicler of military history, a supremely literate and engaging storyteller, and an author with acute insight into the minds of men in battle. In Killing Rommel Pressfield extends his talents to the modern world with a WWII tale based on the real life exploits of the Long Range Desert Group, an elite British special forces unit that took on the German Afrika Korps and its legendary commander, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, ‘the Desert Fox.’ Autumn 1942. Hitler s legions have swept across Europe; France has fallen; Churchill and the English are isolated on their island. In North Africa, Rommel and his Panzers have routed the British Eighth Army and stand poised to overrun Egypt, Suez, and the oilfields of the Middle East. With the outcome of the war hanging in the balance, the British hatch a desperate plan send a small, highly mobile, and heavily armed force behind German lines to strike the blow that will stop the Afrika Korps in its tracks. Narrated from the point of view of a young lieutenant, Killing Rommel brings to life the flair, agility, and daring of this extraordinary secret unit, the Long Range Desert Group. Stealthy and lethal as the scorpion that serves as their insignia, they live by their motto: Non Vi Sed Arte Not by Strength, by Guile as they gather intelligence, set up ambushes, and execute raids. Killing Rommel chronicles the tactics, weaponry, and specialized skills needed for combat, under extreme desert conditions. And it captures the camaraderie of this band of brothers as they perform the acts of courage and cunning crucial to the Allies victory in North Africa. As in all of his previous novels, Pressfield powerfully renders the drama and intensity of warfare, the bonds of men in close combat, and the surprising human emotions and frailties that come into play on the battlefield. A vivid and authoritative depiction of the desert war, Killing Rommel brilliantly dramatizes an aspect of World War II that hasn t been in the limelight since Patton. Combining scrupulous historical detail and accuracy with remarkable narrative momentum, this galvanizing novel heralds Pressfield s gift for bringing more recent history to life.

The Profession

The master storyteller Publishers Weekly and bestselling author of Gates of Fire, The Afghan Campaign, and Killing Rommel returns with a stunning, chillingly plausible near future thriller about the rise of a privately financed and global military industrial complex. The year is 2032. The third Iran Iraq war is over; the 11/11 dirty bomb attack on the port of Long Beach, California is receding into memory; Saudi Arabia has recently quelled a coup; Russians and Turks are clashing in the Caspian Basin; Iranian armored units, supported by the satellite and drone power of their Chinese allies, have emerged from their enclaves in Tehran and are sweeping south attempting to recapture the resource rich territory that had been stolen from them, in their view, by Lukoil, BP, and ExxonMobil and their privately funded armies. Everywhere military force is for hire. Oil companies, multi national corporations and banks employ powerful, cutting edge mercenary armies to control global chaos and protect their riches. Even nation states enlist mercenary forces to suppress internal insurrections, hunt terrorists, and do the black bag jobs necessary to maintain the new New World Order. Force Insertion is the world’s merc monopoly. Its leader is the disgraced former United States Marine General James Salter, stripped of his command by the president for nuclear saber rattling with the Chinese and banished to the Far East. A grandmaster military and political strategist, Salter deftly seizes huge oil and gas fields, ultimately making himself the most powerful man in the world. Salter’s endgame is to take vengeance on those responsible for his exile and then come home…
as Commander in Chief. The only man who can stop him is the novel’s narrator, Gilbert ‘Gent’ Gentilhomme, Salter’s most loyal foot soldier and as close to him as the son Salter lost. As this action jammed, lightning fast, and brutally realistic novel builds to its heart stopping climax Gent launches his personally and professionally most desperate mission: to take out his mentor and save the United States from self destruction. Infused by a staggering breadth of research in military tactics and steeped in the timeless themes of the honor and valor of men at war that distinguish all of Pressfield’s fiction, The Profession is that rare novel that informs and challenges the reader almost as much as it entertains.

The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles

DO YOU: dream about writing the Great American Novel? regret not finishing your paintings, poems, or screenplays? want to start a business or charity? wish you could start dieting or exercising today? hope to run a marathon someday? If ‘yes,’ then you need THE WAR OF ART Now, in this powerful, straight from the hip examination of the internal obstacles to success, bestselling author Steven Pressfield shows readers how to identify, defeat, and unlock the inner barriers to creativity. THE WAR OF ART is an inspirational, funny, well aimed kick in the pants guaranteed to galvanize every would be artist, visionary, or entrepreneur. Steven Pressfield enjoys great international success as a bestselling novelist. But in order to reach the top he had to do a lot of work to fight the inner demons that told him he couldn t make it. THE WAR OF ART is his challenge to creative block, and his succinct, straight from the hip style will help every reader unleash their personal ambitions, be they literary, artistic, or business minded. According to Pressfield, the internal obstacle to success is Resistance. Resistance is the difference between the life you lead and the life you want to lead, and can take many forms. Pressfield shows readers how to identify and defeat Resistance at every turn and challenges them to change their amateurish, unsuccessful habits into a professional attitude that can get the job done. Finally, Sun Tzu for the soul! Inspirational, funny, and a great kick in the pants, THE WAR OF ART is the perfect book for anybody who had a goal circumvented by life and circumstance: which is to say, you and everybody you ve ever met.

Do the Work

Could you be getting in your way of producing great work? Have you started a project but never finished? Would you like to do work that matters, but don’t know where to start?

The answer is Do the Work, a manifesto by bestselling author Steven Pressfield, that will show you that it’s not about better ideas, it’s about actually doing the work.

Do the Work is a weapon against Resistance – a tool that will help you take action and successfully ship projects out the door.

‘There is an enemy. There is an intelligent, active, malign force working against us. Step one is to recognize this. This recognition alone is enormously powerful. It saved my life, and it will save yours.’

Available in both a 5-pack and 48-pack for you to share, as well as a special collectible edition, Do the Work may be just what you need to get out of your own way.

For other titles like Do the Work, visit thedominoproject. com for more information.

The Warrior Ethos

WARS CHANGE, WARRIORS DON’T We are all warriors. Each of us struggles every day to define and defend our sense of purpose and integrity, to justify our existence on the planet and to understand, if only within our own hearts, who we are and what we believe in. Do we fight by a code? If so, what is it? What is The Warrior Ethos? Where did it come from? What form does it take today? How do we and how can we use it and be true to it in our internal and external lives? The Warrior Ethos is intended not only for men and women in uniform, but artists, entrepreneurs and other warriors in other walks of life. The book examines the evolution of the warrior code of honor and ‘mental toughness.’ It goes back to the ancient Spartans and Athenians, to Caesar’s Romans, Alexander’s Macedonians and the Persians of Cyrus the Great not excluding the Garden of Eden and the primitive hunting band. Sources include Herodotus, Thucydides, Plutarch, Xenophon, Vegetius, Arrian and Curtius and on down to Gen. George Patton, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, and Israeli Minister of Defense, Moshe Dayan.

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