If you like historical fiction, Steven Pressfield is the author to follow. From Alexander the Great’s foray into Afghanistan (The Afghan Campaign) to the Spartans at Thermopylae (Gates of Fire) to World War ll (Killing Rommel) to the possibility of corporate –sponsored and mercenary-fought wars in the future (The Profession); former Marine Steven Pressfield examines the concept of “Honor-Courage-Commitment” to see if it’s changed through the millennia.

Writing historical fiction is difficult since everyone knows the ending before they begin reading the book; the Spartans all die heroically in the defense of Greece; Rommel commits suicide rather than be executed by Hitler…the trick is to make the fiction part of the story unique and interesting – and in this, Pressfield has no modern peer.

Pressfield's genius is that he tells his stories from the viewpoint of one of the participants, usually an enlisted man, which enables him to write from a boots-on-the-ground level. From Xeo in “Gates of Fire”, Matthais in “The Afghan Campaign”, and Gent in “The Profession”, he explores how warriors over thousands of years strive to do their best in the most horrific of situations - with the single uniting factor their loyalty to their fellow warrior.

Anyone can read the battle histories of Tarawa or the Chosin Reservoir and write about an engagement, but what makes Pressfield such a successful writer is how his narrators explain combat and the warrior mentality to those who have no clue. Why do men fight in the face of overwhelming odds, his characters ask? In “Gates of Fire” Dienekes, one of the few Spartans still alive on the eve of the final day of battle tells his exhausted men “Forget country. Forget wife and child. Forget every concept, however noble, that you imagine brings you to fight here today. Act for this alone: for the man who stands at your shoulder.”

That’s the mark of a superb novelist; he makes the characters appear alive and gives the reader something to think about afterwards…as he does when the Spartans are discussing fear, combat, and why men still fight knowing they are going to die…who would expect the ooh-rah, macho Spartans to be having a such a discussion with one of their platoon leaders deciding “the opposite of fear – is love.”

Make no mistake; while his battle scenes are intense; they are not merely the gore-filled stories so prevalent today; Pressfield’s characters possess a quiet courage and grow into a maturity far beyond their years, and it’s in combat their best traits rise to the surface. It’s his personalization of these stories of “Honor-Courage – Commitment” through history of how true warriors respond to the confusion and carnage around them that makes Steven Pressfield one of the finest American novelists writing today.