The Essential Art of War Collection is comprised of four of the worlds most important books ever written on military strategy. Sun Tzu's The Art of War is the oldest text on military strategy in existence. Written around the year 512 BC the book has been widely read and quoted by political and military leaders and more modernly by many businessmen and investors, most notably Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas) in Oliver Stone's 1987 movie Wall Street. The Art of War was written in socratic dialogue. It's purpose is "To honor and reward virtù, not to have contempt for poverty, to esteem the modes and orders of military discipline, to constrain citizens to love one another, to live without factions, to esteem less the private than the public good." To these ends, Machiavelli notes in his preface, the military is like the roof of a palazzo protecting the contents. On War is one of the most important books on the subject of war and military tactics & strategy ever written. Carl Philipp Gottlieb von Clausewitz was a Prussian soldier, military historian and military theorist who's Vom Kriege (On War) has influenced military leaders for two centuries. Antoine-Henri Jomini's The Art of War is the foremost writing on Napoleonic warfare and military tactics and strategy ever written.