John Keegan Books

The greatest politician and statesmen of the twentieth century by Britain's leading military historian. schovat popis

The Face of Battle is military history from the battlefield: a look at the direct experience of individuals at 'the point of maximum danger'. It examines the physical conditions of fighting, the particular emotions and behaviour generated by battle, as well as the motives that impel soldiers to stand and fight rather than run away. And in his scrupulous reassessment of three battles, John Keegan vividly conveys their reality for the participants, whether facing the arrow cloud of Agincourt, the levelled muskets of Waterloo or the steel rain of the Somme

In this comprehensive history, John Keegan explores both the technical and the human impact of the greatest war of all time. He focuses on five crucial battles and offers new insights into the distinctive methods and motivations of modern warfare. In knowledgable, perceptive analysis 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.

A group of military historians examine the careers of 20 key generals who served under Winston Churchill in World War II. John Keegan's introduction examines Churchill's strategic cast of thought and working methods. Intolerant of failure, he sacked his generals ruthlessly and, according to the text, came to be sesrved by men of exceptional abillty as leaders, field commanders or specialists in irregular warfare.

The Mask of Command is about generals: who they are, what they do and how they affect the world we live in. Grant and the false heroic of Hitler - John Keegan propounds the view of heroism in warfare as inextricable linked with the political imperative of the age and place.

The First World War created the modern world. A conflict of unparalleled ferocity which extended far beyond its European epicentre, it broke the century of relative peace and prosperity which we associate with the Victorian era and unleashed the demons of the twentieth century - pestilence, military destruction and mass death - and also the ideas which continue to shape our world today - modernism in the arts, new approaches to psychology and medicine, and radical ideas about economics and society. It was of course foremost a military conflict, and the battles on land, sea and in the air form the narrative heart of his study, with some fascinating new interpretations of the military events. But the war also acted as a formidable engine for change throughout the world, and this too is revealed in his new book. At its heart, however is the terrible human cost of this unparalleled conflict, the loss which, however vastly extended, remains personal and individual.

"This atlas has been conceived as a means of conveying to its users both the totality and complexity of the Second World War. It does not seek to portray ... inevitable triumph of the anti-Axis alliance. It does not accord predominance to any one theater: the campaigns in Russia and in the Pacific are treated as of equal importance with those in Western Europe. Its coverage is not exclusively military. Economic and political factors are recognized as having the importance they did, as are the enormous material and human costs of the conflict"--P. 11.

The author has been preparing to write this book during thirty years of reading, research, teaching and commenting on military affairs. It brings together in a single volume the themes explored in his earlier bestselling books and adds to them the insights gained in his visits to many of the world's major battlefields, a lifetime's friendship with soldiers of different armies and his more recent experience as a war correspondent in the Lebanon and the Gulf. 'Our foremost military historian. . . It is the breadth of his grasp of civilisation, as well as the soldier's art, that makes this book so formidable. ' EVENING STANDARD 'A book of breathtaking scope. . . . a tour de force DAILY MAIL 'Swarms with brilliant analysis ans an unrivalled command of military history'. FINANCIAL TIMES

The Allied assault on Normandy beaches was an almost flawless success, but it was to take three months of bitter fighting before the German defence of Normandy finally collapsed and Paris was liberated. While transcending conventional military history, it provides an intensely vivid picture of one of the Second World War's most crucial campaigns.