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#9606603 in Books 2004 #File Name: B00SB5244Q
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. The Face of BattleBy Steven YThis was the textbook for my study of War history class. I found this book helpful and learned a lot about war tactics and strategy. However; John Keegan was obviously biased towards the British in every war analysis. Book was a bit long and windy so just skip to the second half of each section to get the useful information.7 of 7 people found the following review helpful. Into the Battlefield.By MFYThe Face of Battle is an early book from Mr. Keegan (1976) which shows all his virtues combined: he is a professor (at Sandhurst Military Academy); so the book is didactic; he is an investigator so his researches on how to describe a battle are shown; he is a talented literate writer; so his prose is engaging and fluent.As with other books of the author this is a very commendable reading for different audiences: those interested in specific military topics; those interested in history (as myself); those who want to know how a battle looks like and more.Mr. Keegan open his work with an introduction in which he wonders how battles has been described and perform a critical reading on some famous excerpts; pointing out why they fail to tell us what really happened in those critical moments of history. At the same time he draw a model on how a battle should be told.He applies this model to three outstanding battles: Agincourt; Waterloo and the Somme. He analyze and describe each piece of battle; taking pain to break them into small components and presenting them to the reader with a forceful languaje.Agincourt is a fearful hand to hand and man to man conflict; Mr. Keegan reviews the weapons; the battlefield; the climate; the mood of the warriors; the leadership; the moral conflict of killing prisoners among other things. Even if this battle piece is described with scientific method you have the poignant feeling of being there.Waterloo is different scenario; weaponry has evolved changing the kind and quality of armed encounters. Documentation on the battle overflows and menace to drown the historian. Artists imagination is aroused and lots of paintings full of color and inaccuracy find their way to galleries and museums. From all this massed data and imagery; however Mr. Keegan; produce another coherent and accurate description of the events on 18th June.The Somme is XXth century and an industrialized mass war; the size of the battle field enlarges to an inhuman scale; increasing logistic and communication problems. General staff miscalculations translates into human useless suffering. Pre-battle; battle and post-battle issues are analyzed and shown in this section. Military lessons may be extracted from it by military professionals. A very realistic picture of the pains; disorientation; vision; behavior; of the front officers and soldiers; among many other "observables" may be grasped by the rest of the readers.But as I said at the beging of the review; Mr. Keegan is not only an historian; he is an educator; so to complete his work; as an epilogue; he discuss the future of battle and the art of War.Reviewed by Max Yofre.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. A Classic Not to Be MissedBy Dr YThis is considered Keegan's masterpiece. You get three military histories for the price of one - - - and spread across the centuries. I've read this several times and I never tire of it.
