Steven Pressfield Popular Books

Steven Pressfield Biography & Facts

Steven Pressfield (born September 1, 1943) is an American author of historical fiction, nonfiction, and screenplays, including his 1995 novel The Legend of Bagger Vance and 2002 nonfiction book The War of Art. Early life Pressfield was born in Port of Spain, Trinidad, in 1943, while his father was stationed there, in the U.S. Navy. Education Pressfield graduated from Duke University in 1965. In 1966, he joined the U.S. Marine Corps, serving as an infantryman. Career Pressfield was an advertising copywriter, schoolteacher, tractor-trailer driver, bartender, oilfield roustabout, attendant in a mental hospital, fruit-picker in Washington state, and screenwriter. His struggles to make a living as an author, including the period when he was homeless and living out of the back of his car, are detailed in his 2002 book The War of Art.Pressfield's first book, The Legend of Bagger Vance, which was loosely based on the Bhagavad Gita, was published in 1995, and was made into a 2000 film of the same name directed by Robert Redford and starring Will Smith, Charlize Theron, and Matt Damon.His second novel, Gates of Fire (1998), is about the Spartans and the battle at Thermopylae. It is taught at the U.S. Military Academy, the United States Naval Academy, and the Marine Corps Basic School at Quantico.In 2012, Pressfield launched the publishing house Black Irish Books with his agent Shawn Coyne. Works Fiction The Legend of Bagger Vance, about a young man coming to terms with his spiritual demons through the medium of golf (1995). Adapted into the film The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000). Gates of Fire, about the Battle of Thermopylae (1998), ISBN 0385492510. The novel is studied at West Point, the USNA and other military institutions, and topped the list of bestsellers in Greece. Tides of War, a novel of Alcibiades and the Peloponnesian War (2000), ISBN 0385492529 Last of the Amazons, in which Theseus, the legendary King of Athens, sets sail to the north coast of the Black Sea inhabited by a race of female warriors (2002), ISBN 038550098X The Virtues of War, about Alexander the Great (2004), ISBN 0385500998 The Afghan Campaign, about Alexander the Great's conquests in Afghanistan (2006), ISBN 038551641X Killing Rommel (2008), a fictionalized account of a patrol of the British Long Range Desert Group during the North African Campaign of World War II, ISBN 0385519702 The Profession (2011), ISBN 9780385528733. Pressfield's first book set in the future, where military force is for hire everywhere. Oil companies, multinational corporations and banks employ powerful, cutting-edge mercenary armies to control global chaos and protect their riches. 36 Righteous Men (2020), ISBN 0393358402, a futuristic noir thriller. A Man at Arms (2021), ISBN 9780393540970, a novel set in Jerusalem and the Sinai desert in the first century AD.Nonfiction The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles (2002), a motivational book that investigates the psychology of creating art and how "writer's block" can be cured. ISBN 9781936891023 Do The Work (2011), ISBN 9781936719013 The Warrior Ethos (2011), ISBN 9781936891009 Turning Pro (2012), ISBN 9781936891030 The Authentic Swing: Notes from the Writing of First Novel (2013), ISBN 9781936891139 The Lion's Gate: On the Front Lines of the Six Day War (2014), ISBN 9781595230911 An American Jew: A Writer Confronts His Own Exile and Identity (2015), ISBN 9781936891412 Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*t: Why That Is and What You Can Do About It (2016), ISBN 9781936891498 The Artist's Journey: The Wake of the Hero's Journey and the Lifelong Pursuit of Meaning (2018), ISBN 9781936891542 Put Your Ass Where Your Heart Wants to Be (2022), ISBN 9798986164311Filmography Prior to publishing his first original works of fiction, Pressfield wrote several Hollywood screenplays including 1986's King Kong Lives, 1988's Above the Law starring Steven Seagal and directed by Andrew Davis, 1992's Freejack, a work of science fiction starring Emilio Estevez, Mick Jagger, and Anthony Hopkins, and 1993's Joshua Tree (a.k.a. Army of One) starring Dolph Lundgren and George Segal. Joshua Tree was directed by Academy Award and Bafta winning stuntman Vic Armstrong. His novel The Legend of Bagger Vance was made into a 2000 film starring Matt Damon as the golf pro and Will Smith as his spiritual guide and was widely criticized for its use of the "Magical Negro" as a plot device. Pressfield also appeared as one of the historians in The History Channel's 2007 documentary Last Stand of the 300 and a commentator on an episode of the History Channel's Decisive Battles series featuring Alexander the Great on July 30, 2004. References Additional sources Pressfield, Steven. (2012 ed.). War of Art. New York/Los Angeles: Black Irish Books. ISBN 978-1-936891-02-3 Pressfield, Steven. (2012 ed.). Turning Pro. New York/Los Angeles: Black Irish Books. ISBN 978-1936891-03-0External links Steven Pressfield Official Website Steven Pressfield at IMDb Appearances on C-SPAN Steven Pressfield leads discussion about The Creative Battleground as guest host of LitChat Steven Pressfield's "Writing Wednesdays" series New York Times Blog "At War" features article about Steven Pressfield's blog and the "One Tribe At A Time" paper, by Major Jim Gant. Discover the Steven Pressfield popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Steven Pressfield books.

Best Seller Steven Pressfield Books of 2024

  • Be As You Are synopsis, comments

    Be As You Are

    Sri Ramana Maharshi

    'Our own Selfrealization is the greatest service we can render the world'The simple but powerful teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi, one of India's most revered spiritual masters, co...

  • Summary of The War of Art synopsis, comments

    Summary of The War of Art

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    Summary of The War of Art by Steven Pressfield | Includes Analysis       Preview: Steven Pressfield’s The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Cre...

  • The War of Art synopsis, comments

    The War of Art

    Instant-Summary

    The War of Art A Comprehensive Summary Why do so many people struggle to pursue what they long to do? Why are good intentions for beginning artistic endeavors often met with proc...

  • The Profession synopsis, comments

    The Profession

    Steven Pressfield

    Master storyteller and bestselling author Steven Pressfield returns with a stunning, chillingly plausible nearfuture thriller about the rise of a privately financed and global mili...

  • The Art of Creativity synopsis, comments

    The Art of Creativity

    Susie Pearl

    Discover the daily habits of highly creative people.What do most highly creative people have in common? What are the habits they cultivate? What is 'the flow' and how do you get in...

  • The War of Art By Steven Pressfield - Summary and Analysis synopsis, comments

    The War of Art By Steven Pressfield - Summary and Analysis

    Summary Great

    Summary of The War of Art by Steven Pressfield | Includes Analysis Preview: Steven Pressfield’s The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles is a...

  • SUMMARY - The Warrior Ethos by Steven Pressfield synopsis, comments

    SUMMARY - The Warrior Ethos by Steven Pressfield

    Shortcut Edition

    Our summary is short, simple and pragmatic. It allows you to have the essential ideas of a big book in less than 30 minutes. As you read this summary, you will learn what the ...

  • Tides of War synopsis, comments

    Tides of War

    Steven Pressfield

    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 ...

  • The Virtues of War synopsis, comments

    The Virtues of War

    Steven Pressfield

    I have always been a soldier. I have known no other life. So begins Alexander’s extraordinary confession on the eve of his greatest crisis of leadership. By turns heroic and calcu...

  • Last of the Amazons synopsis, comments

    Last of the Amazons

    Steven Pressfield

    BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Steven Pressfield's The Profession. The author of the international bestsellers Gates of Fire and Tides of War delivers his most grip...

  • The Afghan Campaign synopsis, comments

    The Afghan Campaign

    Steven Pressfield

    BONUS: This eBook edition contains an excerpt from THE PROFESSION: A Thriller by Steven Pressfield. On sale June 2011.2,300 years ago an unbeaten army of the West invaded the ...

  • Gates of Fire synopsis, comments

    Gates of Fire

    Steven Pressfield

    NATIONAL BESTSELLER “Steven Pressfield brings the battle of Thermopylae to brilliant life.”Pat ConroyAt Thermopylae, a rocky mountain pass in northern Greece, the feared and admir...

  • Killing Rommel synopsis, comments

    Killing Rommel

    Steven Pressfield

    A thrilling WWII tale based on the reallife exploits of the Long Range Desert Group, an elite British special forces unit that took on the German Afrika Korps and its legendary com...

  • Improv for Actors synopsis, comments

    Improv for Actors

    Dan Diggles

    In this stepbystep guide, an actor and improvisational teacher brings his tested methods to the page to show how actors can take risks and gain spontaneity in all genres of scripte...

  • The Death of Caesar synopsis, comments

    The Death of Caesar

    Barry Strauss

    In this story of the most famous assassination in history, “the last bloody day of the [Roman] Republic has never been painted so brilliantly” (The Wall Street Journal).Julius Caes...