The Art of War E-Book

Sun Tzu

• Herausgeber: Sun Tzu
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2016

Beschreibung

The Art of War (Dell'arte della guerra), is one of the lesser-read works of Florentine statesman and political philosopher Niccolò Machiavelli.The format of 'The Art of War' was in socratic dialogue. The purpose, declared by Fabrizio (Machiavelli's persona) at the outset, "To honor and reward virtù, not to have contempt for poverty, to esteem the modes and orders of military discipline, to constrain citizens to love one another, to live without factions, to esteem less the private than the public good." To these ends, Machiavelli notes in his preface, the military is like the roof of a palazzo protecting the contents.Written between 1519 and 1520 and published the following year, it was the only historical or political work printed during Machiavelli's lifetime, though he was appointed official historian of Florence in 1520 and entrusted with minor civil duties.

Leseprobe

Cover design by Sebestyén, employing the image “Chinese Dragon” by Lihui from Dreamstime.com, who retains full rights over the aforementioned image.

The publisher, Pax Librorum Publishing House, affirms the non-copyrighted public domain nature of the contents of this book but reserves copyright over the cover design of this electronic book, which may only be distributed as part of this digital edition as received by the reader.

Cover design © Copyright 2008 – 2009 Pax Librorum Publishing House

Publisher's Foreword

Lionel Giles' ground-breaking 1910 edition of Sun Tzu's ancient treatise on the Art of War was nothing short of a scholarly masterpiece.  It contains the original Chinese text, an accurate and fancy-free yet highly readable translation, extensive annotations by both ancient Chinese commentators and Giles himself, and a vast introduction to provide an in-depth historical perspective to it all.  Despite not having become the final word on Art of War translations, this now public domain text of a brilliant Orientalist remains an ideal yardstick against which other translations can be measured.

This edition aims to offer the reader the full Lionel Giles translation, sans the annotations, corrected of the many small errors and outright omissions present in most freely distributed digital copies of the work[1].  And instead of the lengthy and necessarily dry academic introduction of the original, our book begins with the fascinating ancient Chinese anecdote about Sun Tzu and the Emperor's concubines.

The publisher, Pax Librorum Publishing House, simultaneously offers an inexpensive paperback edition (ISBN-13: 978-0-9811626-3-8) as well as free digital copies on its website and elsewhere.  If you enjoy this free eBook, please consider showing your support by purchasing the paperback edition from Amazon.com or BN.com for a friend or a loved one.

The Publisher www.PaxLibrorum.com

Introduction

Sun Tzu Wu was a native of the Ch`i State. His Art of War brought him to the notice of Ho Lu, King of Wu. Ho Lu said to him: “I have carefully perused your 13 chapters. May I submit your theory of managing soldiers to a slight test?”