Gladiators 100BC-200AD is an excellent addition to the prolific Osprey series of military books. A nice summary of the superb (but a tad costlier) Gladiators and Ceasars, Gladiators 100Bc-200AD combines much of the latest information on these showmen of the arena with magnificent illustrations by the legendary Angus McBride. The descriptions of training and living conditions of the gladiators is nice and concise, with some good asides based on grafritti findings and written records. The descriptions of the various fighters are good, with the illustrations doing much to imprint the differences in the reader's mind. Probably the only real failing of the volume is the lack of photographs of either actual gladiatorial armour, especially the helmets, or the excellent reproductions done under Dr Marcus Junklemann's supervision. An image of the myrmillon helmet described with the "scale-like" pattern on the bowl would have been really appreciated. All-in-all, an excellent addition to my growing gladiator library. Now, if only someone would translate Junklemann's Das Spiel mit dem Todt into English and make it available to purchase.

The siege of the Alamo has become so imbued with a legendary aura that attempting to write a military history of the 1836 campaign in Texas is now a daunting task. Heroic visions of Crockett, Bowie and Travis fending off Mexican assault troops on the ramparts has tended to obscure the fact that the siege of the Alamo was neither the beginning or the end of the war for Texas independence. Noted Texas historian Stephen L. Harding has framed the 1836 campaign in its proper perspective, without embellishment or historical embellishment. The result is a lucid and well-written account that covers the entire campaign from February to May 1836, without over-focusing just on the Alamo.

In accordance with the standard Osprey Campaign series format, the book begins with a section on the origins of the campaign and the chronology. While this section lays out the roots of the conflict clearly, the relationship between the fledgling Texan republic and the United States is left ambiguous, particularly in regard to military support and volunteers. The section on opposing commanders focuses almost exclusively on the Mexican General Santa Anna and the Texian General Sam Houston, both of whom are portrayed as very flawed commanders. Unfortunately, details on other significant commanders such as Travis, Bowie, Crockett and Fannin are inserted in the campaign narrative, which is disruptive. It was interesting however to see that attention given to the oft-neglected Mexican General Urrea's skillful operations. The section on opposing armies is weak, compounded by the fact that there is not even an order of battle provided for the Mexican army. Nevertheless, what the narrative lacks in military detail is often compensated for by an effective literary style is used to enhance the author's points. For example, the author notes both the rank discrimination and logistic difficulties in the Mexican army by asserting, "[Mexican] generals drank French wine from cut crystal, soldados drank stagnant water out of mud holes."

The text is supported by five 2-D maps (Mexico & Texas in 1836, the Texas Campaign in 1836, the Battle of Coleto Creek, the San Jacinto Campaign and the Mexican Retreat) and three 3-D Birds-eye-view maps (two depicting the assaults on the Alamo and one on the Battle of San Jacinto). There are also three very good battle scenes: the death of Travis at the Alamo, Crockett falling back into the Alamo Church and the execution of Colonel Fannin. Numerous illustrations and modern photographs of the Alamo complement the narrative. In addition, the author has provided a detailed section on visiting the battlefield today and includes relevant Internet websites. Taken together, this book represents an excellent short history of the campaign and a useful battlefield guide for visitors.

The campaign narrative itself is quite good, with about ten pages devoted to the siege of the Alamo, nine to Fannin's pathetic efforts and the Goliad massacre, and nine to the San Jacinto Campaign. The author is a bit vague on casualties and military details, but he does detail the effects of the harsh winter weather and desolate terrain on the Mexican offensive. Indeed, weather and terrain probably played a bigger role in the Mexican defeat than Texian heroics. Concerning the fall of the Alamo, the author believes that Santa Anna launched a costly frontal assault for political rather than military reasons, but this downplays the fact that Santa Anna was de facto Mexican head of state and commander in chief. Santa Anna could not afford to waste too much time in sieges of minor rebel fortifications. Also, Santa Anna's "no quarter" policy to the Texian rebels was not out of step with other similar 19th Century sieges like the Paris Commune in 1870 or even Dublin in 1916. Imagine if Santa Anna had accepted surrender at the Alamo and allowed the rebels to go home on parole; could men such as Travis ever be trusted to live meekly under centralista rule? Not likely. If Santa Anna wanted to hold onto the rebels, he had to either kill them or drive them out, since there was no room for compromise. If anything is reaffirmed by the 1836 campaign, it is that war is tough on the defeated, whether Texians at the Alamo or Mexicans at San Jacinto.

In the end, the author concludes that the Texians won in spite of the incompetence of Sam Houston, who refused to send a relief force to the Alamo, then avoided battle thereafter and retreated toward the US border. Houston was more politician than soldier and his troops were openly contemptuous of his leadership abilities. At San Jacinto, Santa Anna's own leadership flaws compensated for Houston's incompetence and Texian ferocity inspired by the Alamo and Goliad massacres was enough to tip the balance in their favor.

For those of you who are trying to draw samurai with flags, banners or just like reading about them then this book is a good pick.

It shows (in detail) the flags used by different families and clans and tells what type of flags were used by whom. From the Minamoto to the Tokugawa shogunate, it shows you hundreds of banners and exlpains the hereldry of the banner and in some cases why the symbol was used by that family, though it mainly shows the clan symbols of less known families and not the great ones(ex.Takeda, Toyotomi, Tokugawa, to find these ones look at the book "Samurai, An illustrated history. By: Mitsuo Kure)

Like all osprey series books it contains a few well drawn and highly detailed pictures in the middle of it and explains each page in full detail, thus the book helps you to undestand the differences between the flags and the banners.

A great buy for collectors and people studying the Samurai, though the text is a little hard to understand (being that it was written by a graduate from Oxford University, England)