Fields of Battle : The Wars for North America

Rating:
Summary: A Disappoint
Review: "Fields of Battle" by John Keegan is a disappointment if you expect the book to fulfill its basic thesis. The book is designed to explore and describe four major military battles that took place on the North American continent, instead what you get is a great deal of remembrance and travelogue interpersed with discussions of the battles. Additionally, the final chapter on the Wright Brothers invention of the airplane seems totally out of place.

When the author stays on topic the material is quite interesting with the chapter on Custer's Last Stand the best written. Not having read any of Keegan's other works I am reluctant to read any others despite his fine reputation as a historian and military affairs journalist.

Rating:
Summary: Thoroughly engrossing
Review: "Fields of Battle" by John Keegan is a disappointment if you expect the book to fulfill its basic thesis. The book is designed to explore and describe four major military battles that took place on the North American continent, instead what you get is a great deal of remembrance and travelogue interpersed with discussions of the battles. Additionally, the final chapter on the Wright Brothers invention of the airplane seems totally out of place.

When the author stays on topic the material is quite interesting with the chapter on Custer's Last Stand the best written. Not having read any of Keegan's other works I am reluctant to read any others despite his fine reputation as a historian and military affairs journalist.

Rating:
Summary: Thoroughly engrossing
Review: Although "Fields of Battle" is a little different from Keegan's other works, it certainly deserves a place on the bookshelf next to all of them. "Fields of Battle" reads like a travel journal as well as a history, and employs a style non-readers of history would appreciate. Keegan is not too in-depth with his discussion of the wars for North America, nor is he too vague. He provides an overview of American history that is basic, but not redundant. "Fields of Battle" should be required for every university-level freshman US History class.

Rating:
Summary: Unusual for Keegan, but a Fine Read!
Review: Having read a number of Keegan's other work, I can say confidently that this title is extremely unique and resembles his other work almost none at all. While most of his books break down and analyze battles in a very scientific, scholastic manner, the manner that has set him apart from most in the military history field, this book is much less of an academic analysis on a specific subject, as rather it is a personal narrative through his experiences in North America. With those retellings, he intermixes information on the uniqueness of military history in the US and Canada as compared to the rest of the world. Though it is obvious that Keegan has a deep appreciation for the US and loves the culture, the portions of this book that read in that fashion prove to be far more like Tocqueville than Keegan. A lot of this is his commentary on America, from the perspective of a well-versed foreigner with in depth historical knowledge. It makes for a fascinating read, but not in a manner comparable to any of his other work. The portions focusing on battles are well done though, especially his portion on Custer, which may well be the most intriguing American west military analysis I have ever read, interesting becasue of the perspective from which it is written. I would highly recommend it. Ultimately though, despite my high accalaids, I would say that anyone who wants to read some of the material making Keegan the world's top military historian would be better served starting off with "Mask of Command," "The Face of Battle" or "The Price of Admiralty." If you already know Keegan's work or personally don't care, then give this title a chance.

Rating:
Summary: A Disappointing series of personal memories
Review: I was very disappointed by this book. I've enjoyed some of Keegan's other works, such as "A History of Warfare." But this book is less history and more memoir of his love affair with the United Sates. The history that is included has many factual errors, such as thomas Jefferson living to 1833.

Apparently this book was marketed appropriately in the UK, but the US publishers apparently wanted to cash in and gave it a misleading title and jacket. If you want to know about John Keegan, read this book. If you want to know about the wars of North America, look elsewhere.

Rating:
Summary: Summary of North American Military History
Review: John Keegan is one of the most respected military historians writing today. "Fields of Battle" is his surveyof of wars, and warfare, in North America: from European settlement up to the Civil and Indian Wars; ending with WW2. The connecting thread of these differing conflicts is due to the hugeness of the land, at least to Europeans, fortifications took on an importance totally unlike that of Europe. These "centers of gravity" in a wilderness naturally pulled opposing forces toward them, spawning battles and campaigns throughout the late 18th and 19th Centuries. Moreover, this reality of settlement and conflict has vestiges in the American Way of Warfare into the 21st Century.

I think only a non-=American historian could have written this book. As a transplanted American living in Germany, my sense of wonder in the village I lived in (founded AD 800) was amusing to my German neighbors. When it's all around you and you are immersed in it, sometimes we become too jaded to our own history. Mr Keegan has an affection for the land and people of the U.S., without becoming sentimental or naive. In fact his introductory chapter, "An Englishmans' America" is possibly the best one in the book. Clearly aimed at the general reader rather than a military historian, this book might be good additional material for an undergrad US military history course. Recommended.

Rating:
Summary: The least of Keegan's efforts
Review: Of the many books by John Keegan that I have read, this is by far the least enjoyable. Two stars is probably a harsh assessment, but there are a few points that annoy me greatly about the book, and overshadows the insight that is also present in significant quantities.

First, the positive. As usual, Keegan looks for parallels and contrasts in defining historical peoples, places, or battles. In this book he analyses the geography of North America and describes 4 wars on its soil in terms of the limitations and opportunities offered by key strategic points. The wars include those between English and French about Quebec, the American Revolution, the Civil War's Penninsular campaign, and the wars of extermination of the Native Peoples in the Plains territories (including Custer's Last Stand). He convincingly argues that the twin keys to North America are the St. Lawrence/Lake Champlain/Hudson River corridor and the extended Mississippi watershed (which are connected through portages/canals). Of course, such a dry description does not do justice to Keegan's fine writing style that brings alive the geography, the society, and the battles themselves.

And yet.... All the fine analysis is for naught. Keegan does normally inject a certain amount of his personal opinion and direct observation of battlefields and locations that he's personally visited. However, in this book, it is taken to an extreme. The first 65 (!) pages are a meandering, self-indulgent account of vacations he's taken in the U.S. and Canada, ostensibly to describe the geography, but redundently because he rehashes it all in the chapters dealing with the specific wars. Worse still, it's dull. The next few chapters perk up considerably, especially that describing the Civil War. However, it's all ruined again by his unbelievable defense of the genocide commited by the U.S. (and Britain/Canada, for that matter, but he focusses on the U.S. in this book) on their native populations. He seems to justify his stance by calling the Natives "selfish" for wanting to maintain their way of life and low population density. My jaw dropped in disbelief when I read it! That's like justifying Hitler's invasion of Poland (and his attempted genocide of its people) because Germany needed "liebensraum."

So, unfortunately, I cannot endorse this book, in spite of its many good points. Pick up Keegan's Face of Battle or Mask of Command for examples of his penetrating insight. Steer clear of this one (and under its original title, "Warpaths: Fields of Battle in Canada and America," which is a weird title since Canada is in America....).

Rating:
Summary: Looks Like John Got Bit By The Money Bug
Review: OK. I love John Keegan's works and read all of his works religiously. But what is going on with this one?

Too much remembrance and "I love America" (not so hot on Canada however) remarks that you never really find out where he is going. I was interested in his take on the American invasion of Canada in 1812. This conflict just seems to have dissapeared from the pages of history. How many fields of battle did he skip over here?

The reason may be more obvious than we think; John doesn't teach at Sandhurst anymore. No, he now works as a Military Columnist for that illustrious London right-wing newspaper owned by Canadian Millionaire Conrad Black --- "The Telegraph." John is now working in the real world and not anymore in academia.

Since his early successes it must have been clear to him that his original audience for his work in Britain and the British Commonwealth had grown to encompass the US as well. I think that John saw this market and decided to tailor for it a piece of military history. The result is this odd lot random rambling over American (mostly) battlefields with stories that seem to start nowhere and go nowhere, and one is left with a vague feeling that he had some point to make about geography.... yes that is it... some point of geography. And whenever he seems to make the least sense, American readers come across one of his strategically placed "I love America" remarks that makes one feel, Ah he can't be bad, a Brit who likes America.

But what point he is trying to make I seriously do not know. And I think that it matters little now. The book was a success in the States and, in the end, I am sure that is all the John ever really intended in the first place, as he carries his cheque to the bank.

Rating:
Summary: Good Overview of these Four Wars
Review: The author, John Keegan is a noted British historian that has spent most of his time on European warfare. It was interesting to see what he was going to come up with in this study of the battles primarily in the U.S. The book opens with something probably all American's will enjoy, a chapter talking about how much he loves American and the particular reasons why, maybe this was just a buttering up technique so that we would buy the book? He then covers four major battles / wars that have taken place in North America, the French Indian War, the American Revolutionary war, the American Civil War and the American Indian Wars.

Obviously whole books or series of books can and have been dedicated to these particular topics so the reader should be prepared for just a light overview of each of the wars. Keegan takes the reader into one particular point or battle within each war after giving the reader a very good brief on why the war is taking place, the parties involved and then the outcome. He does a very good job here with this overview.

Overall the book is easy to read and interesting. The beginning chapter will make you happy just reading it and the good feelings will remain with you through out the book. This book is much lighter and less detailed then many of his other works so it does serve as a good introduction to the author.

Rating:
Summary: Utterly Beautiful Traveling Book
Review: This is my traveling book. I bring it with me anytime I go on a long trip, precisely for the way that Keegan writes about his travels in the U.S. It is a change in style for him, yes; however, it's just as good as his normal style, albeit in a different way.

For those who haven't read it, it basically goes over four major battles in American/Canadian history...The Plains of Abraham, Yorktown, the Seven Days, and Custer's Last Stand. The latter, as someone else mentioned, I thought was the most useful, simply because I knew very few of the details involved. Yorktown I thought was the weakest, though it was also the broadest, discussing the end of the Revolutionary War.

If you get a chance, get this book. Maybe you should preview it from the library at first, but I found it a very, very good book. I'm just upset I didn't get the hardcover.