Content good vocabulary too daunting.

While the author has produced a very good account of battles, I feel he is also attempting to test our vocabularies.
Far too much use is made of obscure language, and I became fed up of looking up my dictionary.
And I do not believe myself to be particularly thick.

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Best of its kind

An excellent read, read in beautifully spoken English. Not always the case on here.

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Simply Brilliant.

What made the experience of listening to The Face of Battle the most enjoyable?

Insightful, thought-provoking, ahead of it's time, singular, inspiring, truthful.

Who was your favorite character and why?

The author.

Which character – as performed by Simon Vance – was your favourite?

N/a

If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

You couldn't do it.

Any additional comments?

I have read this book several times and will continue to do so.

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Why isn't all history written like this?

Keegan successfully attempts to place the reader in amongst the action at Agincourt, Waterloo and the Somme with vividly immersive results. This not only makes for a thoroughly fresh and gripping perspective on familiar events but also also offers fascinating insights into how histories are written. Highly recommended; especially to anyone with an interest in how history makes it onto the page.

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2 people found this helpful

A genuine classic of military history

I loved this book. Insightful and learned yet witty and superbly written. The narration by Simon Vance (surely one of the very best narrators) could not be more perfectly suited to the text. Highly recommended for anyone interested in military history.

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Magnificently posh reading...

... appropriate for a magnificently posh book. I'm not a military history aficionado, but thought this a very worthwhile introduction. This isn't just shout three battles in themselves (Agincourt, Waterloo, The Somme), but how we think about and write about battle.

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excellent historian work

Fantastic recreation of what each of the three battle must have been. John Keegan looks in from as many aspects as possible to give the reader the chance to piece as complete a picture as possible.

Backed by solid research, he zoom in and out of focus by switching from a broad cultural expose of the spirit of the age to the words of the people who actually took part in the events, making this one of the most vivid and interesting work of history I have come across.

Being French myself I couldn't help but notice a recurring theme, two of the three battles being famous french defeat, and the french crowd stands out somehow as a rather aloof bunch in both circumstances... I suppose those battle being so famous, they may be the ones for which most records were kept, and they may also have been the most studied and taught, John Keegan being an instructor at Sandhurst.

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Great book

Even though I've studied history at university and read dozens of books on military history, listening to John Keegans work was kind of an eye-opener with its unique point of view on battle. If you'rr into military history, I strongly recommend reading the face of battle.

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Great gruesomness and well written

I would like to read the follow up: “face of PTSD throughout history”.
A great book on why we should avoid war.

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a classic

John Keegan's book is a classic. A difficult listen, although Simon Vance is excellent and in parts dated, it is still illuminating and well worth your time in understanding battle.

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