A fine history of the battle of Marathon. Lacey is a military man, a journalist and a professor at the Marine War College. The book begins with a teaser briefly describing the battle. The author then discusses the rise of Darius and the Persian empire, the rise of Athens and the nature of Sparta and Athens, the immediate preceding history of the Ionian revolt, the Persian and Greek styles of warfare, and, finally, his view of what happened at the battle. There is a concluding discussion of other theories of the battle. The author uses his military knowledge to support or explain seeming contradictions with Herodotus and to support his own version of likely events at the battle. As usual, I feel obligated to mention that more maps would be better. (3.5) ( )