“Xenophon’s Cyrus the Great: The Arts of Leadership and War” by Larry Hedrick
This book can be best described as 70% paraphrasing Xenophon’s Cyropaedia and 30% business book.
The editor, Larry Hedrick, switched Xenophon’s depiction of Cyrus the Great from the original third person’s vantage point in Cyropaedia into a first person cringy narrative that makes Cyrus sounds like a douche bragging about himself. Hedrick also “extended the narrative at few points” and “tied up some loose ends in the plot structure” along the way, which he then blend into the whole thing and never set the distinction between the altered original text and his addition.
Hence, the finished book is in no form or shape Xenophon’s classic anymore. But instead, it is a largely edited “modern” remake that take ancient wisdom and organize it with business focused sub-headings. Oh yes, we’re talking about those buzzwords like leadership, middle management, vision, seizing opportunity, inspiring your people, and all that crap.
Which is fine, actually, if this premise is executed properly. Because the sub-headings are actually making the book easier to navigate, and even the grossly violated contents – that pays little or no respect to the original book – are still pretty good.
But as I read on, I keep on finding inconsistencies in the editing, like the one that irritate me the most: the way Cyrus (supposed to be in first-person narrative) often call his “father” as “Cambyses” (in a third-person way). And everytime I’m reading the book, I can’t help but being curious what the original text is saying in Cyropaedia.
After all, the original biography by Xenophon is often praised to be at par with The Art of War by Sun Tzu or The Prince by Nicolo Machiavelli, exactly why I purchased this book in the first place (by mistake, as it turns out). Will try to find and read the original book instead.
THE CHAOS THEORY 