The Face of Battle: A Study of Agincourt, Waterloo, and the Somme

Master military historian John Keegan’s groundbreaking analysis of combat and warfare

The Face of Battle is military history from the battlefield: a look at the direct experience of individuals at the "point of maximum danger." Without the myth-making elements of rhetoric and xenophobia, and breaking away from the stylized format of battle descriptions, John Keegan has written what is probably the definitive model for military historians. And in his scrupulous reassessment of three battles representative of three different time periods, he manages to convey what the experience of combat meant for the participants, whether they were facing the arrow cloud at the battle of Agincourt, the musket balls at Waterloo, or the steel rain of the Somme.

“The best military historian of our generation.” –Tom Clancy

• The Mask of Command
• A History of Warfare
• The Pursuit of Power: Technology, Armed Force, and Society since A.D. 1000
• Carnage and Culture Landmark Battles in the Rise to Western Power
• Battle: A History Of Combat And Culture
• The Great War and Modern Memory
• Hell In A Very Small Place: The Siege Of Dien Bien Phu
• The First World War
• The Second World War
• Battles that Changed History