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Summary: A little tedious, but interesting and worthwhile.
Review: First real voluntary dip into military history. I found significant stretches of the book rather tedious, but there is some terrific material here.
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Summary: The sights and sounds of battle
Review: Keegan does a good job of recreating battle so that we can picture it for ourselves. But what was it like for those who participated - not just in what they saw, but in how they felt and reacted? Here Keegan can not help us, and these are the most important questions. What we really want to know is: what does war do to man's spirit? For answers I recommend the war memoirs and autobiographical novels of those who fought. In WWI, for example, read Henri Barbusse and Ernst Junger, or my favorite, "Les Croix de Bois" ("The Wooden Crosses") by Roland Dorgeles. Then you will begin to experience war from the inside.
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Summary: Timeless description
Review: Keegan combines a scholarly insight and a narrative skill to make this one of the best texts on warfare ever written. While I disagree with some of his final conclusions, he lays out the facts that have and have not changed about battle and what it does to the participants. The analysis of the soldiers' experience in the three battles analyzed are impeccable. This book is a must have for any military science collection, and should be enjoyed if read by novice or professional.
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Summary: Best book of its kind anywhere
Review: Keegan's ground-level description of battle takes the reader where the boot-sole meets the mud in three pivotal historical battles. This and the companion volume, ''The Mask of Command,'' also a great book, are mandatory for anyone who seeks an understanding of warfare -- and, for that matter, human nature.
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Summary: Why do soldiers stay on the battlefield?
Review: It has been several years since I read this book, and while the details are fading, the overall impression remains vivid. A theme running through the book is why a soldier would commit the seemingly irrational act of remaining on a battlefield, where a person could get killed. Keegan finds that the reasons have changed through time, and posits that one of the challenges leaders in modern warfare face will be getting their troops to fight rather than hunker down for the duration._The Face of Battle_ is, or at least was fairly recently, required reading for the U.S. Army Command and General Staff Course.
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Summary: We're not in kansas anymore.
Review: After reading many history books I have to say Keegans work takes you right onto the battlefield. Its one thing to know who took the hill and when but now I know what it felt like before during and after! Keegan has not limited himself to one era and seems to excel in making the reader understand what an archer, cavalryman, or artillaryman dealt with in their time. Should be required reading at west point!
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Summary: A towering achievement !
Review: I've been reading Keegan lately and enjoyed every word. I normally prefer war novels like The Naked and The Dead, The Triumph and the Glory, or films like Saving Private Ryan, to histories, but John Keegan is such a gifted writer that I always seek out his books and read them, often two or three times.
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Summary: It should be used as a text book in Schools
Review: I strongly advise to read this book - especially during period of crisis - in order to be convinced that war must be avoided at all costs. The debugging of the tales of the traditional "warmonger writers/witnesses", made in this book by Keegan, should be read in class at School.
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Summary: Bet you can't read it once!
Review: My copy of 'The Face of Battle' has been reread (and lent out) so many times that it's starting to come apart at the spine. By comparing three epic battles from different ages, Keegan shows us that the more warfare changes, the more it stays the same. This book that changed the way I thought about soldiers, leaders and combat.
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Summary: A student of military science, and an active service member
Review: This book is an incredible account of the reasoning behind our motivation(s) to do battle. It reflects years of both study and training, both of which I have undertaken, which are necessary to confidently express the true reason men fight, die, and/or run. It is also very well written. This is definitely a necessary reading for any in this field of study.
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