This book will have a great impact helping people put to right where the Spartan Mirage currently holds sway.

Professor Stephen Hodkinson, Emeritus Professor of Ancient History, University of Nottingham

The "Spartan mirage," as it has been termed, is one of history's greatest distortions -- a myth of Spartan strength built up over millennia, still propagated today in politics and popular culture. With a masterful array of evidence, Myke Cole lifts the curtain to show us the real human beings -- flawed, conflicted, and above all, vulnerable -- who somehow built themselves up into supermen.

James Romm, Professor of Classics and author of 'The Sacred Band: Three Hundred Theban Lovers Fighting to Save Greek Freedom'

As entertaining as it is enlightening, Myke Cole's The Bronze Lie reveals the fascinating reality behind one of the most pervasive myths of the ages. This is Sparta.

Professor Michael Livingston, The Citadel