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Sign up todayThe Face of Battle
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Learn moreIn this major and wholly original contribution to military history, John Keegan reverses the usual convention of writing about war in terms of generals and nations in conflict, which tends to leave the common soldier as cipher. Instead, he focuses on what a set battle is like for the man in the thick of it—his fears, his wounds and their treatment, the mechanics of being taken prisoner, the nature of leadership at the most junior level, the role of compulsion in getting men to stand their ground, the intrusions of cruelty and compassion, the din and blood.
Set battles, with their unities of time and place, may be a thing of the past, but this anatomy of what they were like for the men who fought them is an unforgettable mirror held up to human nature.
John Keegan’s books include The Iraq War, Intelligence in War, The First World War, The Battle for History, The Face of Battle, War and Our World, The Masks of Command, Fields of Battle, and A History of Warfare. He was the defense editor of The Daily Telegraph (London). He lived in Wiltshire, England, until his death in 2012.
Read by Simon Vance, Kate Reading, Marisa Calin, Ralph Lister, Antony Ferguson, Henrietta Meire, and Tim Bruce
Reviews
“The most brilliant evocation of military experience in our time.”
“A totally original and brilliant book.”
“In this book, which is so creative, so original, one learns as much about the nature of man as of battle.”
“This without any doubt is one of the half-dozen best books on warfare to appear in the English language since the end of the Second World War.”
“This is no ordinary book of military history. In fact, it’s considered a classic…[Simon Vance’s] reading matches the grace, intelligence, and pathos of Keegan’s prose…A flawless reading.”
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