Perspective

Robert L. O'Connell, the author of "The Ghosts of Cannae: Hannibal and the Darkest Hour of the Roman Republic" has a keen interest in warfare and politics. He spent three decades working as a member of the United States Intelligence community. After he retired, he took a job as a visiting professor at the Naval Postgraduate School. A writer who focuses on history, O'Connell also authored "Of Arms and Men: A History of War, Weapons, and Aggression," which focuses on men and armaments throughout history; "Sacred Vessels: The Cult of the Battleship and the Rise of the U.S. Navy," which focuses on weapons technology; "Ride of the Second Horseman: The Birth and Death of War," which focuses on warfare beginning over 10,000 years before the Greeks; "Soul of the Sword: An Illustrated History of Weaponry and Warfare from Prehistory to the Present," which focuses on various weapons throughout...