Brilliant at war a master of politics and a charismatic lover Alcibiades was Athens’ favorite son and the city’s greatest general. A prodigal follower of Socrates he embodied both the best and the worst of the Golden Age of Greece. A commander on both land and sea he led his armies to victory after victory. But like the heroes in a great Greek tragedy he was a victim of his own pride arrogance excess and ambition. Accused of crimes against the state he was banished from his beloved Athens only to take up arms in the service of his former enemies. For nearly three decades Greece burned with war and Alcibiades helped bring victories to both sides — and ended up trusted by neither. Narrated from death row by Alcibiades’ bodyguard and assassin a man whose own love and loathing for his former commander mirrors the mixed emotions felt by all Athens Tides of War tells an epic saga of an extraordinary century a war that changed history and a complex leader who seduced a nation.
