Warrior Ethose by Steven Pressfield

The Warrior Ethos by Steven Pressfield is a look into the culture of a warrior. He looks back on history and explains how different cultures have a code of honor and ethics when it comes to warfare. He persists that a person does not need to fight for a flag or cause in order to have a code of honor. Ethos is defined as: “The moral character, nature, disposition and customs of a people or culture.” Pressfield's book is about all of these things as they pertain to warriors throughout history. He insists that these ideals don't only hold true to today's war-fighters, but also to people's every days personal battles at work, in our home and in our everyday comings and goings. “The Warrior Ethos embodies certain virtues – courage, honor, loyalty, integrity, selflessness and others – that most warrior societies believe must be inculcated from birth”, says Pressfield. Basically he is saying that a warrior culture uses persistent instruction to instill its value and beliefs. This relates to the Marine Corps especially because we are taught to have honor, courage and commitment. These core values are instilled in us and are the Warrior Ethos that we hold to. The book reads as a case study of the philosophy and practice of warrior cultures throughout the ages, U.S. Marines included. It covers the history of combat and the societies that worshiped it. The book is an extremely easy read, but it is hard to undertsand the point Pressfield is trying to make at times. Overall, it feels like a history lesson that is meant to remind us why we are fighting and to remember the values we hold close as a warrior culture. After reading this book it is easy to see that it was written for service-members. While the book has it's positives, it doesn't seem to make any progression. Each chapter feels like it is talking about the same thing as the last. Pressfield constantly looks back into history to make his point. Overall I would recommend this book to people in the military, but wouldn't give it high regards. More could be learned about warfare from from modern-history books that cover World War 2 to the present.