Christopher Columbus and the age of exploration Book

This book lost me the moment it told me the tale of "Sun Tzu and the concubines", (according to the author, his only defeat) -- the variant that the author thought she should censor to fit her pretty picture of a book:

A king of China wanted Sun Tzu to prove that he could make a soldier out of anyone, so he handed him his concubines, had them lined in multiple rows in the courtyard, and told him to get to it. With Sun Tzu barking orders, the concubines giggled, and refused to do what he told them to -- unresisting power, or somesuch tripe according to the author. And, alas, Sun Tzu could do nothing in face of such wymin powah and had to admit defeat.

Except the author deliberately keeps out an important detail of the story -- the ending.


When the concubines start giggling, Sun Tzu calls the guards in attendance -- and proceeds to have the entire first row of concubines slaughtered, for failing to follow orders.

There are several versions, some say he needed to slaughter a few more rows, some say that one was enough, some say that only two of the concubines (the favourites of the King)named as leaders were killed, but the truth is that, in the end, the Concubines were jumping hoops, bending backwards and doing everything Sun Tzu ordered them.

So, this wasn't even a moral victory for the women, who preferred to do as they were told rather than dying. And the man, with his man-tactics, still won in the end against the "female way to do things".

Also, the author clearly never realized (or learned) that The Prince was written SARCASTICALLY. Machiavelli did not want to write the book, was pretty much forced to do it, and thus the entire book is a massive "fuck you" to the ruler, and pretty much is the opposite of the views of Machiavelli on how a proper ruler should act.