Rating: 
Summary: Brilliant. Horrifying. Magnificent.
Review: This book changed the way I think. Keegan gave context to the raw emotions that course through my head.
Rating:
Summary: John Keegan is a revolutionary military historian
Review: Who else can bring you so close to battle that you actually smell it? John Keegan is a master at researching and describing the small details about warfare that most military historians ignore. I find 99% of military history droll...but Keegan adds depth and character to his battles, and he makes them smell, taste and sound REAL. Highly Recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Military History Classic
Review: This is one of the classics of military history. It made Keegan's reputation now and forever. He takes three battles, from three different eras, and dissects them to understand what it would have been like to be there, to help the reader understand the experience of warfare.It is not only excellent history, it is also excellent writing. I cannot believe anyone could read it without being moved by it. It works on the heart as well as the head. It is the compassion, the humanity, that raises the book above the others in its field. Just wonderful.
Rating:
Summary: What is it like to be in a battle?
Review: Probably the most enjoyable book on military experience I have ever read. Taking the point of view of the soldiers who actually participated in three historic battles, it evokes a strong feeling of how it must have been to actually be there, gun smoke, battle noise and everything. A highly readable, very entertaining and, not least, educating guide to the horror of war.
Rating:
Summary: Mr. Keegan was a soldier in each of his past lives...
Review: ...and fought in every battle of importance possible, or else we wouldn't receive such a concise description of the soldiers point of view. And, fortuitously, Keegan also demonstrates the superb ability of defining the officers view, through both thier eyes, and thier men. This title expertly takes you to every point of view Agincourt, Waterloo, and the Somme could have been examined from. From being wounded in the melee, to the unfathomable amount of artillery shells propelled sky-ward, the face of battle truly is shown. To finish, anecdotes, wisdom and knowledge of the subject fully ripen this golden apple of a book. Another classic from John Keegan.
Rating:
Summary: Challenging, insightful look at battle
Review: Keegan begins by admitting that he has never been in a battle. He then proceeds to tell us far more about battle, about how it begins, progresses and ends, than most battle-scarred veterans. He studies Agincourt, Waterloo and the Somme more carefully, in many ways, than book-length studies of these battles. He looks at the terrain, particularly at the technology, and then at how the two together influenced the types of battles fought. For example, the description of Waterloo contains excellent explanations of why infantry squares almost always defeated cavalry charges and how the leaders managed to move or maintain their troops in position
Rating:
Summary: A good answer to "Why do men fight in war?"
Review: The technologicial and ethical evolution of warfare, succinctly dramatized in the battlefield perspectives of the English armies at Agincourt, Waterloo and The Somme. Excellent reading for the novice who wants to understand, not only the horror of battle, but the motivation of the men fighting these desperate struggles.
This book puts a very human face on three historically significant battles fought by the British Army in Flanders. It is an effective counterpoise to the otherwise dry recitation of facts presented in other histories
Rating:
Summary: Illuminating, well written, relevant
Review: "The Face of Battle" is a unique combination of military history and social history that is relevant to everyone. As enjoyable as military history is, most of it tends to be a combination of adventure story and propaganda. John Keegan accomplishes something different in this respect by illuminating the day to day experiences of common soliders in several historic battles. For example, Keegan's chapter on the Battle of Agincourt describes such details as the weight of the British soldiers' armor, their response to the cold weather, the discomfort they felt relieving themselves while dressed, and the fear they must have experienced at the thought of doing battle with numerically superior French cavalry. Keegan does much to expose the reality of combat and the life of a common soldier throughout history in an objective and apolitical fashion. If you are a pascifist or a social historian, then by all means read this book to enhance your understanding of war's unpleasant realities. If you are a fan of military history, then read this book to gain a finer, more detailed understanding of war.
Rating:
Summary: You Are There
Review: My generation's war was Viet Nam, which I avoided with a teaching deferment and a high lottery number. As a result, "The Face of Battle" was an eye-opener for me, since it captures the real, not Hollywood, experience of battle for the common soldier who draws a sword, fires a weapon, or attacks an insurmountable position. Those who want to know what Agincourt, Waterloo, and the Somme were really like should read this book. The lucky survive. Bravo, John Keegan!
Rating: 
Summary: Face of Battle
Review: John Keegan, professor at Sandhurst, England's equivalent of West Point, wrote this treatise of war from the standpoint of the foot soldier circa the mid-1970's. Within this perspective he compares and contrasts the technological advancements in combat weapons from the battle of Agincourtin 1415, to Waterloo in 1815, and finally to the battle of the Somme in 1916. In each instance he relates how standoff and kill technique has been with us as long as man has been able to propel missiles at his enemy. The difference over time is the number of people that can be killed by one shot or blast. The archers at Aginsourt were successful not only due to their skill, but because of the terrain and the weather. The artillery at Waterloo was more devastating due to the range of its blast and the tight formations of the soldiers. And, the Maxim guns of the Germans at the Somme, after winning the "race to the parapets", were even more effective because the English leadership did not insist that their infantry run across no-man's land rather than walk. Keegan goes into detail upon detail, all layered in a contextural fabric, that leads the reader to see war in a way not previously envisioned. An excellent book and one of the first he wrote in the course of many.
| 
