If you want to know more about Themistocles, and even a simple understanding of the events he took part in, then you would be hard pressed to find a better book. It is such an easy book to read I now want to read another by Jeffrey Smith.

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Beating Tsundoku

Review as featured in

Journal of the Medieval Mediterranean

“Smith gives us a look at geopolitics and war making in the period and the complexities of Athenian and Greek society. A valuable read for anyone with an interest in the “Golden Age” of Greece, or the arts of state craft and leadership.”

The NYMAS Review

This is a biography of a hugely influential man and as such is also a history of the first two Persian invasions of Greece. Themistocles shaped Athens physically with the defensive wall named after him, militarily with his insistence on forming a strong navy, democratically with his expert manipulation of the voters and politically with his relations with the Greek world. The Classical world would have been very different without him. His legacy echoes on in modern politics.

Ashley Holt, The Hoplite Association

Enhanced for academia with the inclusion of a Note On Sources, a Chronoloy, an informative Introduction, a Conclusion (The Legacy of Themistocles), a glossary, a Character List, Notes, References, and an Index, "Themistocles: The Powerbroker of Athens" is a masterpiece of historical scholarship and an unreservedly recommended addition to community, college and university library biography collections in general.

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Midwest Book Review

No need for a classical education to enjoy Jeffrey Smith's biography of the architect of Athenean victory in the Persian wars. Hypermodern concepts such as information warfare sit remarkably comfortably alongside ancient Greek aesthetics, the heroes of the Illiad and the Pantheon of Greek Gods in this beautifully written account which charts the rise and fall of a man few may have heard of, but most indirectly owe their Democratic way of life to.

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Army Rumour Service (ARRSE)

Review by Roger Barnes

The style of the book is crisp, lucid and at times, almost conversational. It should appeal to any non-specialist reader who is generally interested in the classical world and provides an excellent introduction to a man who, after Alcibiades, is probably the most intriguing and elusive citizen of ancient Athens.

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Classics for All