A History of Warfare
(Libby/OverDrive eAudiobook)

Keegan, defense correspondent for The Daily Telegraph (London) and author of the widely acclaimed The Face of Battle (CH, Mar'77) and The Mask of Command (1987), offers a vast overview of warfare in the world, from primitive times to the present. He aproaches the subject through five broad divisions: war in human history, fortifications, flesh, iron, and fire. He turns Plato's apex upside down by insisting that the most noble persons in society are not the philosopher-kings but the warrior caste. Keegan then argues that Western society has created a dichotomy in which, on the one hand, politicians seek peace and commerce with all their gentle and ambiguous means, and on the other, the military has been formed as the means to an unambiguous end. This is a provocative book that will enhance Keegan's reputation as a solid writer in the area of armies, although the author is less knowledgeable in the areas of naval and aviation history. All levels. R. Higham; Kansas State University

War's complementary attractiveness and repulsiveness summon legions of religious, rational, and anthropological justifications, and historian Keegan here audaciously attempts to unify them. He can fairly be named the foremost contemporary writer on the subject, and his sharp ideas and easeful prose have prepared a wide audience for this, certainly his magnum opus. Keegan takes three broad approaches to the bloody business: first, the archaeological proofs of war; second, the impact of weaponry from obsidian-tipped arrow to gunpowder to atomic bomb; and third, and most persuasively, the centrality of the belligerent society's culture. Culture, he believes, has been overshadowed by Clausewitz's rationalism; his (mistranslated) dictum was "war is the continuation of policy by other means." But for what rational goal was World War I fought? Alsace-Lorraine? In Keegan's view, generals are vainly guided by the old Prussian's visions of a quick, decisive battle, such as Bismarck enjoyed. But Europe's culture had changed since the Iron Chancellor; by 1914 it universally reduced young men to cogs in an industrial process of death--hardly, any of them, instruments of policy. The warrior caste collided with technical change, continuing a dialectic that has existed everywhere since the dawn of humankind. This tension is the fascinating allure of this work, which ranges confidently across millennia and civilizations. Sumerians, Aztecs, Chinese, Mamelukes, Mongols, Crusaders--all waged war in distinct expression of their cultures. In the process, they produced innovations as varied as the Greek phalanx or that Roman first, the professional army. Whatever war is, it is not simple to understand or to control, but Keegan focuses its blurry fury with acute, cross-disciplinary insight and eminently accessible style.--Gilbert Taylor

In his sweeping new study, Keegan ( The Face of Battle ) examines the origins and nature of warfare, the ethos of the primitive and modern warrior and the development of weapons and defenses from the battle of Megiddo (1469 B.C.) into the nuclear age. Keegan offers a refreshingly original and challenging perspective. He characterizes warriors as the protectors of civilization rather than as its enemy and maintains that warfare is ``entirely a masculine activity.'' Though warfare has become an ingrained practice over the course of 4000 years, he argues, its manifestation in the primitive world was circumscribed by ritual and ceremony that often embodied restraint, diplomacy and negotiation. Peacekeepers, he suggests, would benefit from studying primitive warmaking--especially now, ``a time when the war of all against all already confronts us.'' A masterwork. Photos. 40,000 first printing; History Book Club main selection; BOMC alternate. (Nov.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

YA-Keegan begins his comprehensive but concise survey by debunking the classical tenet that war is an inevitable result of politics. In a well-developed and relatively easy-to-follow argument, he reexamines this previously inviolate theory. By following the progress of war and warriors from primitive societies to the post-Cold War era, and by detailing the concurrent development of weapons technology, he allows readers to see that warfare need not be an all-or-nothing event. He includes many interesting details in his survey, e.g., vivid descriptions of torture, of the development of horse-warriors and charioteers, and of the arrival and consequences of the atom bomb. While leading readers to the conclusion and hope that man is not necessarily a warrior, he canvasses the spread of ``civilization'' and the making of nation-states as we know them today. The book includes prints, diagrams, and photographs. This title will challenge interested readers and prove useful for research papers, philosophical discussions, debates, and anthropology and sociology classes. Even dedicated militarists will find food for thought in Keegan's theories and historical perspective.-Susan H. Woodcock, King's Park Library, Burke, VA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

In this undertaking, Keegan, a former lecturer at the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst, assigns himself an almost impossible task. First, he discusses the essence of war-what it is, how it is waged, and how it has changed-seeing it as a reflection of culture. Second, he uses his examples of how men have waged war to rebut the German officer Karl von Clausewitz's contention that war is an extension of politics. Keegan's description of the development of warfare is excellent. However, his critique of Clausewitz, interesting as it is, deserves a separate volume. This un-abridged audio version is generally well done: beginnings and ends of sides are announced and Frederick Davidson's reading is clear, well paced, and keeps the listener's attention. The maps and photos of the print version are regrettably absent. Nonetheless, this classic volume is essential for library collections.-Michael T. Fein, Catawba Valley Community Coll., Hickory, N.C. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

With his usual fluent mastery, Keegan (The Price of Admiralty, 1989, etc.) offers provocative perspectives on armed conflict through the ages. Taking immediate aim at Clausewitzian theory, the author argues that culture has frequently proved as powerful as politics in decisions to wage war (most notably, perhaps, in prehistoric societies, where the state was an alien concept). Ranging backward and forward in time, he divides his canvass into broad categories (e.g., ``stone,'' ``flesh,'' ``iron,'' ``fire'') that allow him to focus on broad as well as narrow aspects of mortal combat. Among other matters, Keegan addresses such perplexing issues as why men fight, how primitive peoples do battle, what factors constrain belligerents, and the circumstances that can precipitate hostilities. Throughout his panoramic survey, he pays particular attention to weaponry (from spears through nuclear ordnance) and other aspects of the martial arts, including fortifications, logistics, and the organization of armies. Covered as well are warrior fraternities like the Crusaders, Mamelukes, samurai, and Zulus, whose feats of arms Keegan illuminates with commentary on contemporary mores--noting, for example, that the Tokugawa shogunate (at pains to preserve a way of life--and death) kept firearms out of Japan for over 250 years, until the Meiji Restoration led to the island nation's industrialization and militarism. Along similar lines, there's an intriguing take on the evolution of primeval horses, whose descendants took charioteers, Mongol hordes, and Western cavalrymen into action on many fronts. While all civilizations may owe their origins--if not their existence--to war, Keegan concludes that global survival depends on our curbing humanity's vast capacity for destructive violence--and on this score, readers of his superb new survey will find, he's cautiously optimistic. (Ten maps and 24 pages of photographs--not seen)

Keegan adds to his reputation as a writer of military history ( The Second World War , LJ 11/1/89, among others) with this wide-ranging and provocative volume. While he believes that humankind is not doomed to make war, he recognizes that the world's written history is largely a history of warfare. Warfare in turn reflects culture. For instance, Asian war making is characterized by patterns of delay, evasion, and indirection and an ethic of limitation based on Confucian and Islamic ideals. Western culture, on the other hand, incorporates a moral element of face-to-face battle to the death and a technological bias toward constant innovations in weaponry. These factors have combined to generate the total wars that are often considered the norm of conflict. Keegan's emphases on restraint and ritual in war, and on the importance of separating it from politics, challenge conventional wisdom in a way that makes this work essential for all public and private collections on the subject.-- D.E. Showalter, Colorado Coll., Colorado Springs Copyright 1993 Cahners Business Information.

In his sweeping new study, Keegan ( The Face of Battle ) examines the origins and nature of warfare, the ethos of the primitive and modern warrior and the development of weapons and defenses from the battle of Megiddo (1469 B.C.) into the nuclear age. Keegan offers a refreshingly original and challenging perspective. He characterizes warriors as the protectors of civilization rather than as its enemy and maintains that warfare is ``entirely a masculine activity.'' Though warfare has become an ingrained practice over the course of 4000 years, he argues, its manifestation in the primitive world was circumscribed by ritual and ceremony that often embodied restraint, diplomacy and negotiation. Peacekeepers, he suggests, would benefit from studying primitive warmaking--especially now, ``a time when the war of all against all already confronts us.'' A masterwork. Photos. 40,000 first printing; History Book Club main selection; BOMC alternate. (Nov.) Copyright 1993 Cahners Business Information.

YA-Keegan begins his comprehensive but concise survey by debunking the classical tenet that war is an inevitable result of politics. In a well-developed and relatively easy-to-follow argument, he reexamines this previously inviolate theory. By following the progress of war and warriors from primitive societies to the post-Cold War era, and by detailing the concurrent development of weapons technology, he allows readers to see that warfare need not be an all-or-nothing event. He includes many interesting details in his survey, e.g., vivid descriptions of torture, of the development of horse-warriors and charioteers, and of the arrival and consequences of the atom bomb. While leading readers to the conclusion and hope that man is not necessarily a warrior, he canvasses the spread of ``civilization'' and the making of nation-states as we know them today. The book includes prints, diagrams, and photographs. This title will challenge interested readers and prove useful for research papers, philosophical discussions, debates, and anthropology and sociology classes. Even dedicated militarists will find food for thought in Keegan's theories and historical perspective.-Susan H. Woodcock, King's Park Library, Burke, VA Copyright 1994 Cahners Business Information.