Table of Contents

The Art of WarAcknowledgments
Introduction
A Note on the Text
Suggestions for Further Reading
A List of Chinese Commentators
Cronologies
Dyanasties
Historical Events

The Art of War
Chapter 1: Making of Plans
Chapter 2: Waging of War
Chapter 3: Strategic Offensive
Chapter 4: Forms and Dispositions
Chapter 5: Potential Energy
Chapter 6: Empty and Full
Chapter 7: The Fray
Chapter 8: The Nine Changes
Chapter 9: On the March
Chapter 10: Forms of Terrain
Chapter 11: The Nine Kinds of Ground
Chapter 12: Attack by Fire
Chapter 13: Espionage

The Art of War with Commentary
Chapter 1: Making of Plans
Chapter 2: Waging of War
Chapter 3: Strategic Offensive
Chapter 4: Forms and Dispositions
Chapter 5: Potential Energy
Chapter 6: Empty and Full
Chapter 7: The Fray
Chapter 8: The Nine Changes
Chapter 9: On the March
Chapter 10: Forms of Terrain
Chapter 11: The Nine Kinds of Ground
Chapter 12: Attack by Fire
Chapter 13: Espionage

About the Author

Sun Tzu was the author of The Art of War, an immensely influential ancient Chinese book on military strategy (for the most part not dealing directly with tactics). He is also one of the earliest realists in international relations theory.

John Minford has translated many works from the Chinese, including two volumes of the Penguin Classics edition of Cao Xueqin's eighteenth-century novel The Story of the Stone. He is co-editor of the landmark anthology of translations Classical Chinese Literature.

Reviews

"The strategic advice that [The Art of War] offers concerns much more than the conduct of war. It is an ancient book of proverbial wisdom, a book of life." —John Minford, from the Introduction