The Art of War/The Book Of Lord Shang (Classics of World Literature)

The aspects found in both books that accompany this version of The Art of War are definitely worth the time & money. I've even heard it said that the 2nd book, The Book of Lord Shang, is more appealing than The Art of War. In any event, the exposure to Chinese culture through the paradigm of war strategy is quite interesting, and worthwhile.

As R. Wilkinson remarks in his excellent introduction, in the era when Sun Tzu wrote his 'Art of War', 'war had become the most serious business of the State, the key to survival or ruin.' Warfare was for Sun Tzu first of all a question of psychology, before strategies and tactics came into play. Psychologically, the art of warfare is the art to deceive. Sun Tzu is a master in psychological warfare: sap the morale of your enemy and be cleverer (wisdom, not force alone). For him 'supreme excellence is to subdue the enemy without fighting.' His strategy is based on foreknowledge (spying) in order to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses (political, geographical, defensive, offensive) of your enemy. And if you are not strong enough, you should be cleverer through diplomacy. His basic tactics are flexibility, gaining the initiative and not fighting a protracted war. For all that, you need the best commander, not the best sovereign, for a sovereign can bring misfortune upon his army, when ignorant of military affairs and\or command problems. What the sovereign should do is 'bring his people in harmony with their ruler'. This text is rightly a classic. People who launch preventive wars should follow a few of Sun Tzu's recommendations. On the other hand, it says a lot about mankind that one of the first literary classics doesn't have the title 'The Art of Peace'. General Tao Hanzhang's comments contain some excellent examples of cold war tactics, but he also forces Sun Tzu's hands. 'Bring people in harmony with their ruler' becomes 'the sovereign should use political pressure or other means to bring the people in harmony with him'; and, 'the ruler has to impose his will upon the people'. Sun Tzu becomes an atheist because he doesn't believe in gods, but only in real spying. He is also a dialectical materialist. But he overemphasizes the function of generals. For Tao Hanzhang, Sun Tzu's principle that 'there are occasions when the commands of the sovereign (read 'Mao') need not to be obeyed' is now obsolete. His evaluation of the Hitler\Stalin pact is a serious joke.

The book has 3 parts. The first is a translation of Sun Tzu's classic The Art of War. Certainly almost everyone must have heard about it - it is considered one of the first books to be printed. It is 13 short chapters each one dealing with a specific aspect of strategy in warfare. The text is of a high quality and for those like me who are sick of seeing Sun's masterpiece massacred in today's bookstores with most titles offering extensive commentary on how to apply the battle strategies in "business" etc etc, this simple translation which presents what Sun himself actually said is a gem. There's no commentary as the translation is clear enough. The second part is Tao Han Zhang's commentary on The Art of War. Tao was a commander in Mao Ze Dong's People's Liberation Army. On the one hand he does offer some interesting strategic insights. But on the other, it's hard to take someone collaborating with one of the most brutal regimes of the 20th century seriously, especially when he's talking about how Sun was an atheist and laid the principles of dialectic materialism!The third part reverts to a primary Chinese source - it's the lesser known Book of Lord Shang. This is a treatise on how to rule a country with an iron fist, a handbook on how to be a ruthless and successful dictator. Compared in this edition to Machiavelli's The Prince, Shang actually makes Machiavelli look like a saint. His book and theories founded the Legalist school of thought and his policies were actually successfully implemented by China's first emperor Qin Shi Huang Ti (that's how he got to be emperor!). A must read in today's world considering how many of the 200-or-so countries are brutal dictatorships. Frightening and yet fascinating.Another interesting thing is by putting The Art of War and Lord Shang in the same volume the publishers seem to be saying that both are the products of their time and were influenced by the feudalism of the era. A welcome change from forced large-scale comparisons to today.