The Spartans are one of the most fascinating of ancient peoples. Their transformation of their society into a “perfect” military state was so extreme that it intrigues people even today. And yet this relatively small state created a military machine which held off the Persian Empire at Thermopylae and dominated much of Greece in its struggle with Athens during the decades-long Peloponnesian War. This book looks at Sparta through the crisis that motivated its militaristic transformation through Thermopylae. It is definitely interesting, but I think it would have been better if it continued the history another few hundred years, but I guess that’s what the next volume is for.