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 Face of Battle is a companion volume to John Keegan's classic study of the individual soldier, The Mask of Command together they form a masterpiece of military and human history.

But the heart of Keegan's superb narrative is, of course, his analysis of the military conflict. With unequalled authority and insight, he recreates the nightmarish engagements whose names have become legend--Verdun, the Somme and Gallipoli among them--and sheds new light on the strategies and tactics employed, particularly the contributions of geography and technology. No less central to Keegan's account is the human aspect. He acquaints us with the thoughts of the intriguing personalities who oversaw the tragically unnecessary catastrophe--from heads of state like Russia's hapless tsar, Nicholas II, to renowned warmakers such as Haig, Hindenburg and Joffre. But Keegan reserves his most affecting personal sympathy for those whose individual efforts history has not recorded--the anonymous millions, indistinguishably drab, undifferentially deprived of any scrap of the glories that by tradition made the life of the man-at-arms tolerable.

By the end of the war, three great empires--the Austro-Hungarian, the Russian and the Ottoman--had collapsed. But as Keegan shows, the devastation ex-tended over the entirety of Europe, and still profoundly informs the politics and culture of the continent today. His brilliant, panoramic account of this vast and terrible conflict is destined to take its place among the classics of world history.

Keegan examines each theater of the war, focusing on five crucial battles and offering new insights into the distinctive methods and motivations of modern warfare. In eloquent, perceptive analyses of the airborne battle of Crete, the carrier battle of Midway, the tank battle of Falaise, the city battle of Berlin, and the amphibious battle of Okinawa, Keegan illuminates the strategic dilemmas faced by the leaders and the consequences of their decisions on the fighting men and the course of the war as a whole. An extraordinary, definitive history, The Second World War will be required reading for generations to come.

The Second World War merits the acceptance as the standard work that it will surely recieve. -The Washington Post

If you want to know how it happened, read Keegan's thoughtful and elegant prose. -Los Angeles Times

The greatest military historian of our time gives a peerless account of America's most bloody, wrenching, and eternally fascinating war.

In this magesterial history and national bestseller, John Keegan shares his original and perceptive insights into the psychology, ideology, demographics, and economics of the American Civil War. Illuminated by Keegan's knowledge of military history he provides a fascinating look at how command and the slow evolution of its strategic logic influenced the course of the war. Above all, The American Civil War gives an intriguing account of how the scope of the conflict combined with American geography to present a uniquely complex and challenging battle space. Irresistibly written and incisive in its analysis, this is an indispensable account of America's greatest conflict.

Drawing on exclusive interviews with Donald Rumsfeld and General Tommy Franks, Keegan retraces the steps that led to the showdown in Iraq, from the highlights of Hussein's murderous rule to the diplomatic crossfire that preceded the invasion. His account of the combat in the desert is unparalleled in its grasp of strategy and tactics. The result is an urgently needed and up-to-date book that adds immeasurably to our understanding of those twenty-one days of war and their long, uncertain aftermath.

The armies of six nations met on the battlefields of Normandy in what was to be the greatest Allied achievement of World War II. With dramatic, driving power, John Keegan describes the massed armies--American, Canadian, English, French, German, and Polish--at successive stages of the invasion. As he details the strategies of the military engagements, Keegan brilliantly shows how each of the armies reflected its own nation's values and traditions. In a new introduction written especially to commemorate the 50th anniversary of D-Day, he contemplates the ways the events at the battle of Normandy still reverberate today.

The best military historian of our generation. -Tom Clancy

John Keegan writes about war better than almost anyone in our century. -The Washington Post Book World

Very dramatic... Very well done... a book which conjures romance from some very hard fighting. -A. J. P. Taylor, The New York Review of Books

The story of this vast, complex, and risky amphibious assault, and the campaign which followed, has been told many times, but never better than by John Keegan. -The Wall Street Journal

In The Price of Admirality, leading military historian John Keegan illuminates the history of naval combat by expertly dissecting four landmark sea battles, each featuring a different type of warship: the Battle of Trafalgar, the Battle of Jutland in World War I, the Battle of Midway in World War II, and the long and arduous Battle of the Atlantic.

The best military historian of our generation.--Tom Clancy

The Price of Admirality stands alongside Mr. Keegan's earlier works in its power to impart both the big and little pictures of war.--The New York Times

In his landmark biography of Winston Churchill, acclaimed historian John Keegan offers a very human portrait of one of the twentieth century's enduring symbols of heroic defiance. From Churchill's youth as a poor student to his leadership during World War II, Keegan reveals a man whose own idea of an English past--eloquently embodied in his speeches--allowed him to exhort a nation to unprecedented levels of sacrifice. The result is a uniquely discerning look at one of the most fascinating personalities in history.

The best military historian of our generation. -Tom Clancy

Is war a natural condition of humankind? What are the origins of war? Is the modern state dependent on warfare? How does war affect the individual, combatant or noncombatant? Can there be an end to war? Keegan addresses these questions with a breathtaking knowledge of history and the many other disciplines that have attempted to explain the phenomenon. The themes Keegan concentrates on in this short volume are essential to our understanding of why war remains the single greatest affliction of humanity in the twenty-first century, surpassing famine and disease, its traditional companions.

It's 1959 in the town of Clearwater, there are no cell phones or laptops, Eisenhower is President and the country is at peace. Or is it? Three seemingly aimless teenagers, Wellesley Baker, wise guy Taylor Clark, the story's narrator Will Bradford, and Laddie Tilford, the deaf-mute who watches the town from his bike, see a different world. It's a summer vacation from high school that ends in two ugly deaths and a climactic trial.

Fields of Battle spans more than two centuries and the expanse of a continent to show how the immense spaces of North America shaped the wars that were fought on its soil.

In The Mask of Command, John Keegan asks us to consider questions that are seldom asked: What is the definition of leadership? What makes a great military leader? Why is it that men, indeed sometimes entire nations, follow a single leader, often to victory, but with equal dedication also to defeat?

Dozens of names come to mind...Napoleon, Lee, Charlemagne, Hannibal, Castro, Hussein. From a wide array, Keegan chooses four commanders who profoundly influenced the course of history: Alexander the Great, the Duke of Wellington, Ulysses S. Grant and Adolph Hitler. All powerful leaders, each cast in a different mold, each with diverse results.

The Mask of Command is a companion volume to John Keegan's classic study of the individual soldier, The Face of Battle together they form a masterpiece of military and human history.

In The Book of War, John Keegan marshals a formidable host of war writings to chronicle the evolution of Western warfare through the voice of the most eloquent participants--from Thucydides' classic account of ancient Greek phalanx warfare to a blow-by-blow description of ground fighting against the Iraqi troops in Kuwait during the Gulf War. Keegan gathers more than eighty selections, including Caesar's Commentaries on the Roman invasion of Britain; the French Knight Jehan de Wavrin at the battle of Agincourt; Davy Crockett in the war against the Creek; Wellington's dispatch on Waterloo; Hemingway after Caporetto; and Ernie Pyle at Normandy.

The best military historian of our generation. -Tom Clancy

A monumental piece of literary military history. -Chicago Tribune

A brilliantly edited and comprehensive anthology.--The New York Times Book Review.

Intelligence gathering is an immensely complicated and vulnerable endeavor. And it often fails. Until the invention of the telegraph and radio, information often traveled no faster than a horse could ride, yet intelligence helped defeat Napoleon. In the twentieth century, photo analysts didn't recognize Germany's V-2 rockets for what they were; on the other hand, intelligence helped lead to victory over the Japanese at Midway. In Intelligence in War, John Keegan illustrates that only when paired with force has military intelligence been an effective tool, as it may one day be in besting al-Qaeda.

The Routledge Who's Who in Military History looks at those men and women who have shaped the course of war. It concentrates on all those periods about which the reader is likely to want information - the eighteenth-century wars in Europe, the American Revolution, the Napoleonic Wars and the major conflicts of the nineteenth-century. There is full coverage of the First and Second World Wars, and the many post-war struggles up to and including the Gulf War. It provides:

* detailed biographies of the most interesting and important figures in military history from about 1450 to the present day

* a series of maps showing the main theatres of war

* a glossary of common words and phrases

* an accessible and user-friendly A-Z layout

The Routledge Who's Who in Military History will be a unique and invaluable source of information for the student and general reader alike.

The Routledge Who's Who in Military History looks at those men and women who have shaped the course of war. It concentrates on all those periods about which the reader is likely to want information - the eighteenth-century wars in Europe, the American Revolution, the Napoleonic Wars and the major conflicts of the nineteenth-century. There is full coverage of the First and Second World Wars, and the many post-war struggles up to and including the Gulf War. It provides:

* detailed biographies of the most interesting and important figures in military history from about 1450 to the present day

* a series of maps showing the main theatres of war

* a glossary of common words and phrases

* an accessible and user-friendly A-Z layout

The Routledge Who's Who in Military History will be a unique and invaluable source of information for the student and general reader alike.

Young boys always have many childhood adventures in sports and neighborhood games. John is able to share his life and relationships with you. His friends and foes come to life, in particular, his memories of his first close friend, Phyllis. The story also tells about the neighborhood heroes who were killed during World War II, and it describes some of the key battles of the war.

As the story unfolds, we find that young John depended on his Irish immigrant parents for love and guidance, and they were always there when he needed them.