Pride of Carthage: A Novel of Hannibal

The Punic wars are an interesting period in history to write about. Very few people know or care about them now, but at the time they must have seemed of earth-shattering importance. This book captures that feeling, through its descriptions of battles such as Trebbia and Trasimene, and the thoughts of such major players as Scipio and Hannibal. Both of these generals have moments of real humanity, such as Scipio during the battle of Cannae; or Hannibal writing letters to his wife or (spoiler alert) just after having been delivered his brother's head. It also takes time to look at events through the eyes of minor players, such as the soldiers Imco Vaca and Tusselo, and the camp follower Aradna. (I don't care what the New York Times said, I enjoyed their stories a lot.) If I had to complain about this book, I would say it didn't also come with an extra book detailing the history of the war, and documenting every change made for the novel. But Pride of Carthage has incited me to conduct more reading on this period (I just bought one overall history of all three punic wars, and another focusing on the second one), so I feel like that's coming anyway. Excellent reading!

I have a great fondness for the epic. Those expansive stories about valor and courage, the contest of wills as armies clash over open plains, this is the stuff of great literature from Homer's Illiad to the Lord of the Rings. But too much of the genre becomes embroiled in the grandiose and in the sweep of the forest we forget the beauty of the trees. Too much time is spent trying to set a scene up, make it deliberately sweeping and grand, or in the case of historical epics paying attention that every historical detail is correct (the proverbial "Holy Grail" which authors seek but NEVER find). But what makes epics profound, touching, and truly great literature is paying attention to the human details. Who could forget that scene in Book 6 of the Illiad as Hector says goodbye to his wife and son? Durham takes what is grand in the epic and artfully combines with the attention that only a novel can give. His greatest gift in this book is a gritty depiction of the reality of the horrors of war. His description of the Battle of Cannae and its aftermath, with stinking corpes piled three and four high actually made me a bit physically ill. His other gift are his characters. Even his bit characters are eminently believable. We follow the troubled romance of Imco a Carthaginian soldier and Aradna a scavanging "camp follower." The battle scenes contain detail from the inside out, adequitely capturing the frenzy in the narrative in a way reminiscent of camera work on Braveheart. Hannibal's family is masterfully depicted, each great in their own regard but living under Hannibal's shadow in differing ways. I was at first bothered by Hannibal's flatness as a character, he seemed more machine than human. But I realized that this was the genius of Durham, depicting Hannibal as animated some alien force gradually growing more human as the war takes its toll on him physically and emotionally. The characters bear a strange mark of reality In short, this book combines the historical epic, the novel, with a touch of the didactic power of Greek tragedy. A great read. Bravo Mr. Durham!

Make no mistake, there are issues with this book, but David Anthony Durham has done such an incredible job of bringing Hannibal and the Second Punic War to life that I rate "Pride of Carthage" five stars anyway. Hannibal's story of war, struggle, revenge, and hate is one of the most fascinating and evocative stories in human history, but Hannibal's story comes to us through only a couple of classical sources: the larger events of the period are known, but the details passed into antiquity after the Romans razed the city of Carthage and Carthage's entire culture during the Third Punic War. To know Hannibal, then, we must resort to fiction. Several authors have taken on Hannibal's life, including John Maddox Roberts and Ross Leckie. Their books are good reading, but Durham has taken Hannibal's story to an entirely new level, with a fully developed, multi-dimensional Hannibal character, and supporting characters who become so real we feel that they must be historical people rather than fictional characters. Remember as you read that this is a fiction-Durham has developed his characters so well that it is hard to know what is fact and what is not. This is the first issue I have with the book. While this is a novel and should not be considered a historical reference, Durham does not include the usual pages of explanations and qualifiers: he does not tell the reader what he has invented. The reader unfamiliar with the history of the period probably will not care about this, but they risk passing on what they have read as fact. Secondly, Durham starts to run out of steam toward the end. Events that covered fifteen years are compressed into a period of time that cannot be calculated until a single sentence in which Durham mentions how long Hannibal had been separated from his son. Durham pours so much into Hannibal's early story that it seems as if Durham was just worn out by the time the story comes to an end. Read the book anyway-it is still very enjoyable-and remember that at the end of this book, Fortune and Fate were not yet done with Hannibal-he would go on to live for another nineteen years or so in a life so tragic that Shakespeare couldn't have written it more so. This later period of Hannibal's life could warrant its own book.

Before I read this book all I knew about Hannibal was he attacked Rome with some elephants. Pride of Carthage is a hefty undertaking but well worth the time to read and in fact I found myself reading it every spare moment I had until I finished it. Pride of Carthage has a large cast of characters and while at first I thought the book was going to be a lot of military maneuvers (there were plenty)Durham also took the time to develop interesting characters other than Hannibal. I particularly liked the view of the common soldier rising through the ranks, the young Roman tribune and Hannibals wife and sisters. These other stories fleshed out Hannibals own deeds and gave some real insight into how it was to live during this period of history. The Punic Wars effected everyone in North Africa, Spain and Italy not just the soldiers fighting and it was a very brutal war for all involved. This book was fascinating and well written and unbeatable combination and I truly enjoyed every page of it.

I was fascinated by the timeless story of Hannibal, one of the true icons of military history. I have never heard the epic of his Iberian campaigns and his quest for Rome told with such detail - be it historically accurate or provided by the author's craft. DAD draws you into what this fascinating commander and his brothers' lives might have been like - beyond just the bloodshed and battle - by telling it through some gritty characters who have pretty fascinating stories themselves. There's all kinds in this book! I kept thinking about how this story of military conquest gave great descriptions of the way that war *was* waged, and how politics still affects the way that wars are waged today. Rome was a superpower, and they had a certain logic to their strategies that Hannibal was able to exploit, even when out numbered. Understanding the enemy, or not understanding the enemy can mean all the difference. I found this story to be a timely look at how our military leaders today still founder in campaigns that they commit to, without the support of their governing bodies, but still fight on, even to their own demise. I liked historical fiction aspects of this book, but I think that anyone could be drawn to the way that DAD reveals a story and keeps the pace. I found myself returning from work each day looking forward to when I could re-enter the world that was waiting there for me. I have read two previous DAD books, this one is much more ambitious. Pride of Carthage is more complex, more lusty, more violent, and more entertaining. There is a accessibility to the way that DAD writes. He gets images across without bogging you down, and has a great way of hitting you with an unexpected nugget just when you need one.