This is not a conventional military history. Readers interested in detailed accounts of military techniques, major campaigns, and battles will be disappointed. Sidebottom provides a broad discussion of the role of war in Classical Greece and Rome, how war was conceived by the Greeks and Romans, the experience of war, and even some historiography. Sidebottom draws also on a broad variety of sources, including the traditional literary sources, epigraphy, and artistic depictions of warfare. Well written and illustrated, this is a good introduction to warfare as a part of classical history as opposed to the classical world as part of military history. There is an excellent bibliography.

As a prior reviewer comments, Sidebottom does deal with the concept of the "Western Way of War" though more with how the Greeks and Romans thought of their way of making war than Victor Hansen Davis' theory. There is some appropriate criticism of Hansen Davis' ideas though readers interested in a thorough critique of Hansen Davis' theory should read John Lynn's very good book Battle.