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About
In this major and wholly original contribution to military history, John Keegan reverses the usual convention of writing about war in terms of generals and nations in conflict, which tends to leave the common soldier as cipher. Instead, he focuses on what a set battle is like for the man in the thick of it—his fears, his wounds and their treatment, the mechanics of being taken prisoner, the nature of leadership at the most junior level, the role of compulsion in getting men to stand their ground, the intrusions of cruelty and compassion, the din and blood. Set battles, with their unities of time and place, may be a thing of the past, but this anatomy of what they were like for the men who fought them is an unforgettable mirror held up to human nature.
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Reviews
"The most brilliant evocation of military experience in our time."
C. P. Snow, New York Times bestselling author
"A totally original and brilliant book."
New York Review of Books
"In this book, which is so creative, so original, one learns as much about the nature of man as of battle."
New York Times Book Review