Hannibal and Me: What History's Greatest Military Strategist Can Teach Us About Success and Failure

by Andreas Kluth

The life of Hannibal, the Carthaginian general who crossed the Alps with his army in 218 BCE, is the stuff of legend. And the epic choices he and his Roman enemies made on the battlefield and in life offer timeless lessons to us today about how we should respond to our own victories and defeats. Inspired by ancient history, Hannibal and Me explores the triumphs and disasters in our lives by examining the decisions made by Hannibal and others, including Albert Einstein, Eleanor Roosevelt, Steve Jobs, Ernest Shackleton, and Paul Cézanne. Kluth shows why some overcome failure and others succumb to it, and why some fall victim to success while others thrive on it. The result is a page-turning adventure tale, a compelling human drama, and an insightful guide to understanding behavior.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Self Help, Psychology, Business, Philosophy, Leadership

336 pages, Paperback

First published January 5, 2012

About the author

I've been a correspondent for The Economist since 1997, moving from London to Hong Kong to the Bay Area and then Los Angeles. And now I'm also the author of Hannibal and Me. I blog at http://andreaskluth.org/

Reviews

[Thomas Jr. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best books I have read in at least two years. It teaches how to meet with triumph and disaster and how to treat those two impostors just the same. Run don't walk to buy and read this book.

[Jim George · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author carefully and explicitly weaves threads of similar successes through the lives of histories most famous heroes and villains. He uses clever biographical tales all through his book, and paradoxically and metaphorically thru these heroes mistakes and triumphs, gives you some life lessons to emulate and follow on your own pathways towards self actualization. A very compelling success manual, the author does a great job of bringing it all together in the last chapter.

[George · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating, accessable, relevant, well-crafted, informative, and inspirational. A really great book. I think Kluth has given an excellent framework for self-analysis here, via the examination of the succeses and failures of others (not just Hannibal). I think that is more valuable than treating this book as a "how to" guide to life, although his final chapter is excellent (and those are not mutually exclusive concepts, frankly). The observations he makes are supported by his evidence, they are relevant, and, importantly, they are helpful. Everyone deals with calamity and triumph; moreover, everyone deals with them as impostors. Dealing with the problem of those "impostors" is clearly important and I believe this book is relevant to that problem.

This book is categorized as a "business" book, which makes good sense, but it would probably be interesting to anyone interested in self-management, self-control, self-betterment, and so on. There is also something philosophical being studied in this book that I cannot quite discern; I think that adds to the charm of the book. It is perhaps existential somehow? Bah. It is a great read and a useful one.

[Peter Gregoire · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book may be one that purist historiographers - who view the study of the past as its own virtue - may bristle at. But Andreas Kluth very much follows the Confuciun line of studying the past, to understand the present and to foresee the future. In doing so he takes the story of the Carthaginian general, Hannibal and makes it relevant to our times. For in Hannibal and the other two protagonists in the Hannibal story - Fabius and Scipio - we see all sides of humanity and learn lessons about the real meaning of success and failure or, as Kipling called them, the twin imposters that are triumph and disaster.

Weaved into to story of Hannibal, Kluth brings us lessons from the lives of other great historical figures, from Truman to Steve Jobs, from Einstein to Eleanor Roosevelt, from the tragedy of Liu Shaoqi to the hubris of Eliot Spitzer. But most compelling of all are the lessons that Kluth shows he has drawn himself, recognizing the success he achieved in his twenties working long hours in an investment bank for the imposter it was and (with a little help from the study of Hannibal) pursuing a career in journalism instead, which has led ultimately to this excellent work. One which ties together history, philosophy and (perhaps a little) life guidance, and demonstrates an astounding breadth of knowledge.

Well worth a read.

[Lukáš Meravý · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great book! It is beyond me how an obscure German journalist could have written such a wonderful book. If you find yourself failing at achieving your life goals, this book is for you. It is not just a very good pick-me-up, but full of historian-grade knowledge applied to today's problems. I predict we are going to hear from Mr. Kluth a lot more.

Thinking about his writing I came to the realization his literary talent is the fusion of a combined English/American-German education. Most Germans today are really NOT into Anglo-stuff, to their peril I might add. Also most Anglo-Saxons look down upon continental Europe. What a shame!

4 years have passed since I have read this book and I'm still not over how great it is. It is in my top 5 books I have ever read. Calling this book a self help book would be an insult, as most self help books are cheesy and fundamentally shallow. But this is so much more - you see the timelessness of lessons learned by people who are long dead and see them applied to crises people suffer during their lifetime, this is done with a stress on modern phenomena like midlife crisis.

You will not find pep-talks or productivity hacks within the pages of this book. You WILL find the most on-point history lesson applied to individual lives per page.

[Trisha Nayak · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easily my favorite book!
I loved this book! A skim over the index should be enough to get you to pick up this one. It's that sort of a book that you revisit every 3 years to calibrate your mindset. I'm convinced with each reading, I'll be able to fetch a life-lesson different from the ones I'd have identified previously. Highly recommend it to anyone who's riding the flow of success or the ebb of failure or has reached stagnancy of any form in life.

[Eugene Slaven · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant and highly entertaining self-help book with an in-depth overview of the lives of some of history's most intriguing personalities.

[Joe Klein · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very unique book. Life stories of notable individuals throughout history interwoven with action/battle scenes from Hannibal vs Rome. Thoughtful reflections throughout that teach important lessons in life.

[Jane Stewart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good. Very worthwhile. It caused me to think about events in my own life and my subsequent actions.

It’s an uplifting book. It reminds me of the Malcolm Gladwell books. If you like those, I think you’ll like this.

The author talks about many famous people - their triumphs, tragedies, successes, failures. What makes this book special is seeing what these people did “after” their success or failure, what happened and why. Some reacted poorly to success resulting in problems or tragedy. Some made changes in their lives after a failure which led to great success. I enjoyed these stories.

The author talks about psychological concepts: the stages of grief when there is a loss (or failure) and a little about Maslow’s self actualization. He talks about John Paul Sartre’s statement “Hell is other people” - the schoolyard bully, office politics, and any mediocre man or woman who sees others succeed and hates them for it. Hannibal and Scipio (the Roman commander) had great success but later suffered due to fellow citizens who were jealous and conspired against them.

The Hannibal story is fascinating. He was outnumbered. He was facing the Romans on a plain which is the way the Romans liked to fight. Yet Hannibal was able to surround the Romans so that most of the Romans were inside their own circle and couldn’t get to the perimeter to fight. Hannibal won. I loved what Scipio did in a later battle - how he defended against Hannibal’s attacking war elephants.

Hannibal was successful in battles, but he (Carthage) lost the war with the Romans - 13 years later. The author shows how tactics win battles, but strategies win wars. Ask whether you want to annihilate the enemy, or get concessions and live in harmony afterwards. The latter means allowing the enemy dignity.

It was fascinating how the Romans used strategy. Those who engaged in battle with Hannibal lost. Fabius (a Roman leader) was successful because he would not fight Hannibal. He was an example of how doing nothing can be the best course of action.

The author talked about early vs. late achievers. Picasso and Einstein were early achievers. Picasso’s later works were never as famous as his early works and sold for less. After Einstein’s early success, he had no more success in his field because he lost his youthful imagination and was close minded. He refused to accept the idea of randomness and chaos which is the basis for quantum something. Cezanne, Harry Truman, and Carl Jung were examples of later-in-life achievers.

Other stories include Eleanor Roosevelt, Ludwig Erhard (former head or W. Germany), Shackleton (Antartica explorer), Meriwether Lewis (Lewis & Clark expedition), Amy Tan (novelist), Morihei Ueshiba (founded the Japanese martial art of aikido), the Chinese President Liu Shaoqi and his wife, Tiger Woods, Cleopatra, Lance Armstrong, Eliot Spitzer, and Steve Jobs.

The narrator Sean Runette was good.

DATA:
Narrative mode: some 1st person, most 3rd person. Unabridged audiobook length: 12 hrs and 4 mins. Swearing language: none. Sexual content: none. Setting: Historical figures from 300 BCE to current day. Book copyright: 2011. Genre: psychology and history, nonfiction.

[Cristine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the stories about Hannibal, Cleopatra, Amy Tan, Uncle LuLu and the other casts of characters. I enjoyed the musings of the author about how these stories can be explained by the psychological make up of these people. The author would be a wonderful dinner guest or beer drinking companion and shares some of the greatest stories in history.

There were a few things that bothered me about the book. First, there are many footnotes, which give the impression that the statements are facts. However, this book contains a lot of opinion (which may be its strength) and there are a series of techniques that the author employs which require the reader to delineate between fact and thought. The author is overt about a made up conversation between Hannibal and an advisor, but makes some more subtle assertions (e.g. Harry Truman, "who would become one of America's greatest presidents" is a mater of opinion, not fact). Some footnoted material make similar statements, but are made by someone else than the author (and perhaps not purposely, but could appear as facts to a ill informed reader).

My other concern is largely with the editing. I got the impression that there was much more to the book which lead to some gaps and awkward mental leaps. Even after reading the last chapter, I really don't understand why so many pages were dedicated to the relationship between famous people and their parents (it was presented in a psychological context).

With all these concerns, I still found this a good synopsis of history, psychological theory and personal observations and recommend it provided readers understand that this not the book of a psychologist or formal historian, but that of a writer. It is a Gladwell-like work that explains some things that those of us with a few miles on the planet ponder (based on many of his thoughts, I suspect that I'm about the same age as the author). I'd recommend it to anyone who likes Gladwell, the Freakonomics guys and thinks about the way history and today are related. Enjoy!

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant book that tells the complex story of what it means to win and still lose as well as losing your way into victory. The Hero's journey is far more complex than we think and nothing -- neither victory or defeat -- is what it seems. Though to be fair the Romans did get their asses kicked.

[Tiffany · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full of history I learned so much listening to this book.

[Gordon · Rating 4 out of 5]

You might pick up this book thinking it is a biography of the great North African general, Hannibal, the most successful general that the Carthaginian empire ever possessed. You would be partly right. It does contain an account of his life, including his famous crossing of the Alps with his army and his elephants. But it's by no means a conventional biography, as the author is determined to draw life lessons not from Hannibal but also from a cast of assorted other famous people and impart them to his audience.

To that end, the author draws very widely on the lives and experiences of many other luminaries, from Einstein to Eleanor Roosevelt to Meriweather Lewis to Ernest Shackleton to Cleopatra to Hannibal's nemesis, the Roman general Scipio Africanus who ultimately defeated him. This can sometimes be very successful as a technique, but sometimes the reader is left scratching their head wondering what relevance this has to the overarching theme.

As to the theme, it seems to be modeled on two books in particular: First, Seasons of a Man's Life, published in the late 1970's. That book, based on extensive longitudinal research of the phases of a man's life (there were no women among the research subjects who were tracked over 10 years), from early through late adulthood. Second, Elizabeth Kubler-Ross' On Death and Dying, which probably needs no introduction. In this fashion, Hannibal becomes the archetype for studying the development of a high-achieving person throughout life. These phases often have characteristic challenges, such as formulating life objectives, dealing with failure (and finding opportunity in it), coping with success (and not being crippled by it), passing on a legacy to the next generation, and so on.

In Hannibal's case, he was clear on his life's purpose from a very early age, thanks to his father, also a Carthaginian general: defeat the Roman Empire! Carthage had emerged the loser in the first Punic War against Rome, and it was Hannibal's role to avenge this loss in the second Punic War. He was exceedingly successful for many years, defeating his enemies first in Spain, then marching across southern France and over the Alps into the Romans' own turf in Italy. There, he won a series of three epic battles, in each of which he routed the Romans. These battles -- at the Trebia River, Lake Trasimene, and then his greatest victory, at Cannae -- are still studied today as masterpieces of warcraft. And yet, having won all these battles, he could not actually win the war. He never attacked let alone conquered Rome itself, yet languished in Italy for another 13 years frittering away his forces in small battles as the Romans studiously avoided confronting this formidable foe in major clashes.

Somehow, the author theorizes, Hannibal was overwhelmed by success, which made him cautious. As one of his cavalry generals said to him after Cannae when he declined to pursue the fleeing Romans all the way back to Rome: "Hannibal, you know how to win battles, but you don't know how to take advantage of victory". Meriweather Lewis had the same problem after exploring the American continent all the way to the Pacific, and eventually shot himself when he could not figure out how to live up to his own epic achievement. Einstein became conservative in middle age after upending the world of physics as a young man, and fought the new-fangled ideas of the young physicists who came after him. Ernest Shackleton, following his spectacular feat of bringing back from Antarctica every single member of the crew after their ship was crushed in the ice, died young, unable to adapt to the pedestrian life of a husband and father back in England.

Likewise, every phase of Hannibal's life -- in youth, middle age, and old age -- with all of its challenges, is compared with the challenges faced by great achievers in modern times. This approach is either refreshingly innovative or irritatingly meandering, depending on your interests. I think I found it to be both, but that may have had more to do with his writing style than the actual structure and theme of the book. The author's writing style is quite pedestrian and earnest, reminding me of articles from the Reader's Digest magazines that every month sailed in through the mail slot of my parents' house for decades. As a former journalist for The Economist, I expected a less bland style.

Overall, it's a fine read despite these quibbles. At the very least, it left me with a far deeper understanding of the Punic Wars that vaulted Rome to its dominance of the Mediterranean that lasted for centuries. And a better understanding of Eleanor Roosevelt, who I can now appreciate was a much more influential and original figure than I ever realized. I must find a biography of her next, probably Doris Kearn Goodwin's.

[Shobhit · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading this book was like listening to the classic music. It had a dull start but ended on a fantastically high note. Andreas is clearly a huge Hannibal fan. I didn't know about Hannibal before reading this book. That made the book more interesting for me. Andreas also told the story of Ernest Shackleton, Eleanor Roosevelt, Pablo Picasso, Paul Cézanne, Einstein and many others. Andreas tries to explain that success and failure are impostors. He tries to convince us that success is not always good and failure is not always bad. Later in the book, he talks about developing equanimity and long term perspective. I specially liked the chapter about the self-actualization. I wanted this part to be much longer.
I have read the biographies of Einstein, Franklin Roosevelt and the book Endurance. I already knew most of the stories. You might find part of the books dull if you already know the stories. I'd still recommend this book for its fresh take on the interpretation of success, failure and meaning of life.

[Nikita · Rating 3 out of 5]

The initial premise of the book was very exciting, and the stories in the first third, where the author draws parallels between famous characters, were fascinating. I enjoyed the stories of Hannibal, Scipio, Morihei Ueshiba, Cleopatra, Fabius, and Eleanor Roosevelt.

However, it felt like the book lost its focus at some point, and the delivery didn't quite land.

When the author imagined a conversation between Hannibal and Sosylus, I began to question whether I was reading a well-researched book or a work of fiction where famous figures were altered to fit the narrative.

There were also inexplicable gaps in the narrative that didn't sit well with the strong start of the book.

That being said, I would still add an extra star for the rich character mix and the takeaways from the individual stories. The connection between them though, felt missing or forced.

[James Bruhns]

I've read this book at least three times in the last several years and never tire of it. Success & failure transcend time in this book. The author takes us on the journey of Carthage's greatest general, Hannibal Barca, and his singularly focused quest to destroy Rome to avenge his father's failure & fulfill his destiny as a basis for discovering many of life's lessons. I enjoy how the author weaves snippets of current life stories into the narrative to support his thesis and I always find some new nuggets of wisdom each time I read it. It is a well written story that is easy to read. I recommend it to anyone.

[Jetlir · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the book that you must read throughout your lifetime.
Packed with golden information and historical events that we can all learn from.

I shall either find a way or make one ~ Hannibal

[Diego Soler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Si hay un libro de autoayuda para mi, es este. La cantidad de lecciones que hay para tomar de la vida de Aníbal, Escipion y Fabio es incontable. Los fans de la historia que quieran pensar sobre si mismos, se lo deben.

[Ana-Maria Bujor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked the book, but in a different way. Even though some may throw it in the "personal development" pile, I liked it for the historical events it presents. It reads like a novel, split into chapters, each of them following Hannibal's attempt to conquer Rome. Each chapter adds one lesson to be drawn from the story, as well as other stories of other historical figures that illustrate the lesson. I really liked the story parts and went fast through the lessons simply because they are quite basic - do the best you can, pay attention to other people, define what success means to you. And my favorite - it's perfectly fine if you still don't know what you want from like, experiment and see where it goes. But as the author says, you may like these lessons or you may draw others from the stories. All in all, definitely among the best book of its kind I've read so far, which manages to send its message without being preachy and without sugarcoating anything.

[Grace · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unexpectedly "Hannibal and Me" is full of soulful stories. You meet epic figures from the past and present (the most moving were Eleanor Roosevelt, Meriwether Lewis, Steve Jobs and Ernest Shackleton) and then learn in an unflinching and personal way why some of us succeed, why some of us fail or can't handle success and what type of person can overcome failure. As corny as this may sound, you can't help but reflect on your own life and choices you've made and see yourself in these stories. And I love that the book was inspired by Rudyard Kipling's poem "If":

If you can dream---and not make dreams your master;
If you can think---and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same

I also enjoyed learning about the book's namesake Hannibal, the famous general who took his elephants over the Alps, and his Roman rivals Scipio and Fabius. Western history that I knew a little but not enough about.

My only complaint is that the book seems to be mislabeled as a management/business book and I would never have picked it up if I hadn't stumbled across it on the Barnes and Nobel new releases table.

[Kristen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is very well written and the topics that it discusses are very relevant for me at this time in my life. It is an anthology of the changes that go on during mid-life for historical figures. I do wish that he had also discussed characters that were perhaps not part of the aristocracy of our world, but it was still well done. I deeply enjoyed the discussions of letting the young hero within us die, a hero that is usually shaped by what our parents wanted for us. We have a sense of mortality during middle age that is not truly real in youth. Middle age is a time when you are trying to find what you want to do for the remaining years, because now there is no need to prepare for the future. The time you have waited for is here. His descriptions of what self-actualization looks like are well done and inspiring. I am a big fan of Elanor Roosevelt, so I enjoyed that she was a part of this. He does try to draw on completely different life stories.
I came out of this reading with a deeper understanding of what it means to change how I define success and failure, and that I am not the only person that goes through this, apparently most other human beings do too.

[Wellington · Rating 5 out of 5]

When people ask me about what I read, I usually point to historical fiction or self-help. This book blends historical fiction help in one awe-inspiring package.

It begins with Hannibal. I knew him as the Carthaginian general who crossed the Alps and almost defeated Rome. And at the heart of story the shifting relationships of Hannibal, Scipo Africanus, and Fabius, two Roman leaders.

Along the way, we are treated to life arcs of Eleanor Roosevelt, Harry S Truman, Shackleford (attempting to cross the Antarctic), Lewis (of Lewis & Clark), Cleopatra, Steve Jobs, Paul Cezzane, Albert Einstein, and Carl Jung. I learned a lot and this book more than peaked my interest in learning more about these people.

Maybe this book is more history than historical fiction. Still I have to think the author put some liberties to guessing what went through people's heads.

Like Hannibal who did the "impossible" and crossed the Alps in the winter, this book crossed and blended ideas in whole new ways. One of my favorite books I've read.

[Philip · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just completed reading his book " Hannibal and Me" - I was lucky to read two of the best books ever (for me) and this is one of them. Andreas is not a great speaker but a brilliant writer.

As someone who have studied Hannibal quite extensively (I for example worked the Berkley Course and read extensively) I regard this as one of the best representations of his life.

However what makes this book so special is that it does not provide you with a mere overview of the great Carthaginian General's life and battles but uses his life and ultimate demise as a benchmark to compare other great heroes (like Einstein, Shackleton, Mark Anthony and Cleopatra).

If books are mentors, then this one is the life coach and good companion for people who want to consider change leadership. I give this one five stars!!

[Matthew Ng · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great read with insightful cross referencing with other historical characters that illuminate the author's point. I learned not just about Hannibal, but also Eleanor Roosevelt, Ludwig Erhard, Morihei Ueshiba and others.

The final chapter is most interesting. The greatest lesson is that history could only teach you that which impresses you. Wrong interpretation would lead to wrong lesson. Be balanced and unmoving in the face of tumultudous forces would be key.

Now, unto the practice of these lessons!

[Makayla · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book offered wonderful insight into steering your life in the right direction, taking control of your actions, how you were raised and how you react to situations to help you find success and live a more fulfilled life. Intertwined throughout the book in the rise and fall of Hannibal, which I throughly enjoyed learning about. As well as other powerful historic figures and how we can learn from their success and failures. A nice balance of self help and history I wish all self help books were like this.

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Summary: Hannibal was a pretty cool guy. Let's compare his life to other cool people and learn about success and failure.

Why I Read This: Who doesn't want to read about failure?

Review: I actually really enjoyed this. I liked the part-history/part-business aspect of the book. It made it more engaging and interesting. Plus now I have concrete examples of everyone from Scipio to Eleanor Roosevelt to help me better understand the concepts.

[Natya Nauri · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is suitable not only for executives, strategists, but also for parents, psychologists, even those who aspire to get self-insight. Reading this book makes you reflect deeply about everything in life. (What should I pursue when I'm young? How should I deal with failure? How to deal with post-power syndrome?) Unlike other self-help books with full of life tips, the author reflects life beautifully through biography of Cartagenian leader: Hannibal.

[Jordan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid. A really thoughtful examination of the arc of life success from the lives of various warriors, thinkers, politicians.

Great book to read if you are interested in thinking deeply about where you are going in life and how you plan on getting there. Engaging and thought provoking. Highly recommended.

[T.E. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aside from being a treasurehouse of interesting historical information about an amazing range of people, this is also a book which will make you reassess your attitudes about success and failure and setting life goals. Well worth your time!

[SALAH · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great