Written over two millennia ago in China, The Art of War is the first known rational treatise on the planning and conduct of military operations. It's author, Sun Tzu, was a Chinese strategist who lived between 554-496 BC, during the Spring and Autumn Period of the Middle Kingdom's history. Concise and aphoristic in style, The Art of War represents the distilled wisdom of a great commander, knowledge that men of later generations, including Mao Tse Tung and Ho Ch Minh, have used with great success.