-
A History of Warfare
- Narrated by: Frederick Davidson
- Length: 19 hrs and 12 mins
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy for $24.92
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
The First World War
- By: John Keegan
- Narrated by: James Langton
- Length: 20 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The First World War created the modern world. A conflict of unprecedented ferocity, it abruptly ended the relative peace and prosperity of the Victorian era, unleashing such demons of the 20th century as mechanized warfare and mass death. It also helped to usher in the ideas that have shaped our times - modernism in the arts, new approaches to psychology and medicine, radical thoughts about economics and society - and in so doing shattered the faith in rationalism and liberalism that had prevailed in Europe since the Enlightenment.
-
-
Best Military History of First World War
- By Stephen F (SPFJR) on 06-13-19
By: John Keegan
-
The American Civil War
- A Military History
- By: John Keegan
- Narrated by: Robin Sachs
- Length: 16 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For the past half century, John Keegan, the greatest military historian of our time, has been returning to the scenes of America’s most bloody and wrenching war to ponder its lingering conundrums: the continuation of fighting for four years between such vastly mismatched sides; the dogged persistence of ill-trained, ill-equipped, and often malnourished combatants; the effective absence of decisive battles among some two to three hundred known to us by name.
-
-
A Novel Approach (As Opposed to Novelistic)
- By margot on 11-18-12
By: John Keegan
-
Intelligence in War
- Knowledge of the Enemy from Napoleon to Al-Qaeda
- By: John Keegan
- Narrated by: Richard Matthews
- Length: 15 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In fiction, the spy is a glamorous figure whose secrets make or break peace, but, historically, has intelligence really been a vital step to military victories? In this breakthrough study, the preeminent war historian John Keegan goes to the heart of a series of important conflicts to develop a powerful argument about military intelligence. In his characteristically wry and perceptive prose, Keegan offers us nothing short of a new history of war through the prism of intelligence.
-
-
Military history more than history of intelligence
- By D. Littman on 01-10-04
By: John Keegan
-
The Cambridge History of Warfare
- By: Geoffrey Parker
- Narrated by: Andrew Cullum
- Length: 21 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The new edition of The Cambridge History of Warfare, written and updated by a team of eight distinguished military historians, examines how war was waged by Western powers across a sweeping timeframe beginning with classical Greece and Rome, moving through the Middle Ages and the early modern period, down to the wars of the 21st century in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria.
-
-
Too anglocentric
- By A. Siegel on 10-27-22
By: Geoffrey Parker
-
The Face of Battle
- By: John Keegan
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 11 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Amazing! But probably better in print.
- By D. Martin on 04-20-13
By: John Keegan
-
Firepower
- How Weapons Shaped Warfare
- By: Paul Lockhart
- Narrated by: Brian Nishii
- Length: 21 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The history of warfare cannot be fully understood without considering the technology of killing. In Firepower, acclaimed historian Paul Lockhart tells the story of the evolution of weaponry and how it transformed not only the conduct of warfare, but also the very structure of power in the West, from the Renaissance to the dawn of the atomic era.
-
-
Needs More Guns Less Political Opinion
- By Jeb on 10-20-22
By: Paul Lockhart
-
The First World War
- By: John Keegan
- Narrated by: James Langton
- Length: 20 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The First World War created the modern world. A conflict of unprecedented ferocity, it abruptly ended the relative peace and prosperity of the Victorian era, unleashing such demons of the 20th century as mechanized warfare and mass death. It also helped to usher in the ideas that have shaped our times - modernism in the arts, new approaches to psychology and medicine, radical thoughts about economics and society - and in so doing shattered the faith in rationalism and liberalism that had prevailed in Europe since the Enlightenment.
-
-
Best Military History of First World War
- By Stephen F (SPFJR) on 06-13-19
By: John Keegan
-
The American Civil War
- A Military History
- By: John Keegan
- Narrated by: Robin Sachs
- Length: 16 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For the past half century, John Keegan, the greatest military historian of our time, has been returning to the scenes of America’s most bloody and wrenching war to ponder its lingering conundrums: the continuation of fighting for four years between such vastly mismatched sides; the dogged persistence of ill-trained, ill-equipped, and often malnourished combatants; the effective absence of decisive battles among some two to three hundred known to us by name.
-
-
A Novel Approach (As Opposed to Novelistic)
- By margot on 11-18-12
By: John Keegan
-
Intelligence in War
- Knowledge of the Enemy from Napoleon to Al-Qaeda
- By: John Keegan
- Narrated by: Richard Matthews
- Length: 15 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In fiction, the spy is a glamorous figure whose secrets make or break peace, but, historically, has intelligence really been a vital step to military victories? In this breakthrough study, the preeminent war historian John Keegan goes to the heart of a series of important conflicts to develop a powerful argument about military intelligence. In his characteristically wry and perceptive prose, Keegan offers us nothing short of a new history of war through the prism of intelligence.
-
-
Military history more than history of intelligence
- By D. Littman on 01-10-04
By: John Keegan
-
The Cambridge History of Warfare
- By: Geoffrey Parker
- Narrated by: Andrew Cullum
- Length: 21 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The new edition of The Cambridge History of Warfare, written and updated by a team of eight distinguished military historians, examines how war was waged by Western powers across a sweeping timeframe beginning with classical Greece and Rome, moving through the Middle Ages and the early modern period, down to the wars of the 21st century in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria.
-
-
Too anglocentric
- By A. Siegel on 10-27-22
By: Geoffrey Parker
-
The Face of Battle
- By: John Keegan
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 11 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Amazing! But probably better in print.
- By D. Martin on 04-20-13
By: John Keegan
-
Firepower
- How Weapons Shaped Warfare
- By: Paul Lockhart
- Narrated by: Brian Nishii
- Length: 21 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The history of warfare cannot be fully understood without considering the technology of killing. In Firepower, acclaimed historian Paul Lockhart tells the story of the evolution of weaponry and how it transformed not only the conduct of warfare, but also the very structure of power in the West, from the Renaissance to the dawn of the atomic era.
-
-
Needs More Guns Less Political Opinion
- By Jeb on 10-20-22
By: Paul Lockhart
-
The Napoleonic Wars
- By: Alexander Mikaberidze
- Narrated by: Steven Crossley
- Length: 35 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Napoleonic Wars saw fighting on an unprecedented scale in Europe and the Americas. It took the wealth of the British Empire, combined with the might of the continental armies, almost two decades to bring down one of the world's greatest military leaders and the empire that he had created. Napoleon's ultimate defeat was to determine the history of Europe for almost 100 years. From the frozen wastelands of Russia, through the brutal fighting in the Peninsula to the blood-soaked battlefield of Waterloo, this book tells the story of the dramatic rise and fall of the Napoleonic Empire.
-
-
No description of battles
- By John Gaston on 01-15-21
-
Peter the Great
- His Life and World
- By: Robert K. Massie
- Narrated by: Frederick Davidson
- Length: 43 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This superbly told story brings to life one of the most remarkable rulers––and men––in all of history and conveys the drama of his life and world. The Russia of Peter's birth was very different from the Russia his energy, genius, and ruthlessness shaped. Crowned co-Tsar as a child of ten, after witnessing bloody uprisings in the streets of Moscow, he would grow up propelled by an unquenchable curiosity, everywhere looking, asking, tinkering, and learning, fired by Western ideas.
-
-
Narrater ruins everything
- By BrendaLouQuilts on 12-30-11
By: Robert K. Massie
-
The Crusades
- The Authoritative History of the War for the Holy Land
- By: Thomas Asbridge
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 25 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Crusades is an authoritative, accessible single-volume history of the brutal struggle for the Holy Land in the Middle Ages. Thomas Asbridge - a renowned historian who writes with "maximum vividness" (Joan Acocella, The New Yorker) - covers the years 1095 to 1291 in this big, ambitious, listenable account of one of the most fascinating periods in history.
-
-
Comprehensive
- By Tad Davis on 10-04-16
By: Thomas Asbridge
-
Carnage and Culture
- Landmark Battles in the Rise to Western Power
- By: Victor Davis Hanson
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 20 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Examining nine landmark battles from ancient to modern times - from Salamis, where outnumbered Greeks devastated the slave army of Xerxes, to Cortes' conquest of Mexico to the Tet offensive - Victor Davis Hanson explains why the armies of the West have been the most lethal and effective of any fighting forces in the world. Looking beyond popular explanations such as geography or superior technology, Hanson argues that it is in fact Western culture and values which have consistently produced superior arms and soldiers.
-
-
Wow! This truly is a great book. A rarity!
- By GEJ on 11-12-19
-
The Storm of Steel
- By: Ernst Jünger
- Narrated by: Charlton Griffin
- Length: 9 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This classic war memoir, first published in 1920, is based on the author's extensive diaries describing hard combat experienced on the Western Front during World War I. It has been greatly admired by people as diverse as Bertolt Brecht and Andre Gide, and from every part of the political spectrum. Hypnotic, thrilling, and magnificent, The Storm of Steel is perhaps the most fascinating description of modern warfare ever written.
-
-
Horror and randomness of war
- By 9S on 12-26-14
By: Ernst Jünger
-
The Fall of Carthage
- The Punic Wars 265-146BC
- By: Adrian Goldsworthy
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 16 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The struggle between Rome and Carthage in the Punic Wars was arguably the greatest and most desperate conflict of antiquity. The forces involved and the casualties suffered by both sides were far greater than in any wars fought before the modern era, while the eventual outcome had far-reaching consequences for the history of the Western World, namely the ascendancy of Rome. An epic of war and battle, this is also the story of famous generals and leaders: Hannibal, Fabius Maximus, Scipio Africanus, and his grandson Scipio Aemilianus, who would finally bring down the walls of Carthage.
-
-
Captivating
- By Jean on 03-25-19
-
Strategy
- A History
- By: Lawrence Freedman
- Narrated by: Michael Butler Murray
- Length: 32 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Strategy: A History, Sir Lawrence Freedman, one of the world's leading authorities on war and international politics, captures the vast history of strategic thinking, in a consistently engaging and insightful account of how strategy came to pervade every aspect of our lives.
-
-
Comprehensive 'Tour de Force' on Strategy
- By Logical Paradox on 07-20-14
-
Man, Economy, and State with Power and Market - Scholar's Edition
- By: Murray N. Rothbard
- Narrated by: Jeff Riggenbach
- Length: 57 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Murray N. Rothbard's great treatise, Man, Economy, and State, and its complementary text, Power and Market, are here combined into a single audiobook edition as they were written to be. It provides a sweeping presentation of Austrian economic theory, a reconstruction of many aspects of that theory, a rigorous criticism of alternative schools, and an inspiring look at a science of liberty that concerns nearly everything and should concern everyone.
-
-
Austrian Economics
- By Greek Samiotis on 04-13-16
-
Adventures in My Youth
- A German Soldier on the Eastern Front 1941-45
- By: Armin Scheiderbauer
- Narrated by: James A. Gillies
- Length: 11 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The author could be described as a veteran in every sense of the word, even though he was only age 21 when the war ended. Armin Scheiderbauer served as an infantry officer with the 252nd Infantry Division, German army, and saw four years of bitter combat on the Eastern Front, being wounded six times. This is an outstanding personal memoir, written with great thoughtfulness and honesty.
-
-
Heartfelt, vivid and sober story
- By Alek on 01-07-18
-
The Second World War: A Complete History
- By: Martin Gilbert
- Narrated by: Bernard Mayes
- Length: 43 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Martin Gilbert, the official biographer of Winston Churchill, offers a complete history of World War II. It began with the German invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939. By the time it came to an end on V-Day - August 14, 1945 - it had involved every major power, and had become global in its reach. In the final accounting, it would turn out to be - in both human terms and material resources - the costliest war in history, taking the lives of forty-six million people.
-
-
A Catalog of Atrocities, Ignores the Japanese
- By Doc G on 02-28-19
By: Martin Gilbert
-
SPQR
- A History of Ancient Rome
- By: Mary Beard
- Narrated by: Phyllida Nash
- Length: 18 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In SPQR, world-renowned classicist Mary Beard narrates the unprecedented rise of a civilization that even 2,000 years later still shapes many of our most fundamental assumptions about power, citizenship, responsibility, political violence, empire, luxury, and beauty.
-
-
Shallow and unsatisfying
- By Joe on 02-19-17
By: Mary Beard
-
The History of the Ancient World
- From the Earliest Accounts to the Fall of Rome
- By: Susan Wise Bauer
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 26 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is the first volume in a bold new series that tells the stories of all peoples, connecting historical events from Europe to the Middle East to the far coast of China, while still giving weight to the characteristics of each country. Susan Wise Bauer provides both sweeping scope and vivid attention to the individual lives that give flesh to abstract assertions about human history. This narrative history employs the methods of "history from beneath" - literature, epic traditions, private letters, and accounts - to connect kings and leaders with the lives of those they ruled.
-
-
An Historic Achievement
- By Ellen S. Wilds on 04-25-14
By: Susan Wise Bauer
Publisher's summary
Critic reviews
"A work of massive sweep...in which the resources of anthropology, ethnology, psychology, and history are drawn on in comprehensive but succinct synthesis to create what is perhaps the most remarkable study of warfare that has yet been written." (New York Times Book Review)
More from the same
Related to this topic
-
Marathon
- The Battle That Changed Western Civilization
- By: Richard A. Billows
- Narrated by: Jeremy Gage
- Length: 8 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Published to coincide with Marathon's 2500th anniversary, a riveting history of the historic battle. The Battle of Marathon in 490 B.C. is not only understood as the most decisive event in the struggle between the Greeks and the Persians, but can also be seen as perhaps the most significant moment in our collective history. 10,000 Athenian citizens faced a Persian military force of more than 25,000.
-
-
Effectively evokes the world of ancient greece
- By Aaron on 11-02-10
-
The Vikings and Their Enemies
- Warfare in Northern Europe, 750-1100
- By: Philip Line
- Narrated by: Robert Fass
- Length: 13 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A fresh account of some of history's greatest warriors. The Vikings had an extraordinary and far-reaching historical impact. From the eighth to the 11th centuries, they ranged across Europe - raiding, exploring, and colonizing - and their presence was felt as far away as Russia and Byzantium. They are most famous as warriors, yet perhaps their talent for warfare is too little understood.
-
-
Remarkable and comprehensive
- By Harald on 02-04-19
By: Philip Line
-
Carnage and Culture
- Landmark Battles in the Rise to Western Power
- By: Victor Davis Hanson
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 20 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Examining nine landmark battles from ancient to modern times - from Salamis, where outnumbered Greeks devastated the slave army of Xerxes, to Cortes' conquest of Mexico to the Tet offensive - Victor Davis Hanson explains why the armies of the West have been the most lethal and effective of any fighting forces in the world. Looking beyond popular explanations such as geography or superior technology, Hanson argues that it is in fact Western culture and values which have consistently produced superior arms and soldiers.
-
-
Wow! This truly is a great book. A rarity!
- By GEJ on 11-12-19
-
The Fall of Carthage
- The Punic Wars 265-146BC
- By: Adrian Goldsworthy
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 16 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The struggle between Rome and Carthage in the Punic Wars was arguably the greatest and most desperate conflict of antiquity. The forces involved and the casualties suffered by both sides were far greater than in any wars fought before the modern era, while the eventual outcome had far-reaching consequences for the history of the Western World, namely the ascendancy of Rome. An epic of war and battle, this is also the story of famous generals and leaders: Hannibal, Fabius Maximus, Scipio Africanus, and his grandson Scipio Aemilianus, who would finally bring down the walls of Carthage.
-
-
Captivating
- By Jean on 03-25-19
-
Carthage Must Be Destroyed
- The Rise and Fall of an Ancient Civilization
- By: Richard Miles
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 14 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An epic history of a doomed civilization and a lost empire. The devastating struggle to the death between the Carthaginians and the Romans was one of the defining dramas of the ancient world. In an epic series of land and sea battles, both sides came close to victory before the Carthaginians finally succumbed and their capital city, history, and culture were almost utterly erased.
-
-
Outstanding! This is THE book on Carthage.
- By Haakon B. Dahl on 01-21-13
By: Richard Miles
-
The Fall of the Roman Empire
- A New History of Rome and the Barbarians
- By: Peter Heather
- Narrated by: Allan Robertson
- Length: 21 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The death of the Roman Empire is one of the perennial mysteries of world history. Now, in this groundbreaking book, Peter Heather proposes a stunning new solution: Centuries of imperialism turned the neighbors Rome called barbarians into an enemy capable of dismantling an Empire that had dominated their lives for so long. A leading authority on the late Roman Empire and on the barbarians, Heather relates the extraordinary story of how Europe's barbarians, transformed by centuries of contact with Rome on every possible level, eventually pulled the empire apart.
-
-
A New HIstory but not a better history
- By Mario on 03-28-14
By: Peter Heather
-
Marathon
- The Battle That Changed Western Civilization
- By: Richard A. Billows
- Narrated by: Jeremy Gage
- Length: 8 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Published to coincide with Marathon's 2500th anniversary, a riveting history of the historic battle. The Battle of Marathon in 490 B.C. is not only understood as the most decisive event in the struggle between the Greeks and the Persians, but can also be seen as perhaps the most significant moment in our collective history. 10,000 Athenian citizens faced a Persian military force of more than 25,000.
-
-
Effectively evokes the world of ancient greece
- By Aaron on 11-02-10
-
The Vikings and Their Enemies
- Warfare in Northern Europe, 750-1100
- By: Philip Line
- Narrated by: Robert Fass
- Length: 13 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A fresh account of some of history's greatest warriors. The Vikings had an extraordinary and far-reaching historical impact. From the eighth to the 11th centuries, they ranged across Europe - raiding, exploring, and colonizing - and their presence was felt as far away as Russia and Byzantium. They are most famous as warriors, yet perhaps their talent for warfare is too little understood.
-
-
Remarkable and comprehensive
- By Harald on 02-04-19
By: Philip Line
-
Carnage and Culture
- Landmark Battles in the Rise to Western Power
- By: Victor Davis Hanson
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 20 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Examining nine landmark battles from ancient to modern times - from Salamis, where outnumbered Greeks devastated the slave army of Xerxes, to Cortes' conquest of Mexico to the Tet offensive - Victor Davis Hanson explains why the armies of the West have been the most lethal and effective of any fighting forces in the world. Looking beyond popular explanations such as geography or superior technology, Hanson argues that it is in fact Western culture and values which have consistently produced superior arms and soldiers.
-
-
Wow! This truly is a great book. A rarity!
- By GEJ on 11-12-19
-
The Fall of Carthage
- The Punic Wars 265-146BC
- By: Adrian Goldsworthy
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 16 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The struggle between Rome and Carthage in the Punic Wars was arguably the greatest and most desperate conflict of antiquity. The forces involved and the casualties suffered by both sides were far greater than in any wars fought before the modern era, while the eventual outcome had far-reaching consequences for the history of the Western World, namely the ascendancy of Rome. An epic of war and battle, this is also the story of famous generals and leaders: Hannibal, Fabius Maximus, Scipio Africanus, and his grandson Scipio Aemilianus, who would finally bring down the walls of Carthage.
-
-
Captivating
- By Jean on 03-25-19
-
Carthage Must Be Destroyed
- The Rise and Fall of an Ancient Civilization
- By: Richard Miles
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 14 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An epic history of a doomed civilization and a lost empire. The devastating struggle to the death between the Carthaginians and the Romans was one of the defining dramas of the ancient world. In an epic series of land and sea battles, both sides came close to victory before the Carthaginians finally succumbed and their capital city, history, and culture were almost utterly erased.
-
-
Outstanding! This is THE book on Carthage.
- By Haakon B. Dahl on 01-21-13
By: Richard Miles
-
The Fall of the Roman Empire
- A New History of Rome and the Barbarians
- By: Peter Heather
- Narrated by: Allan Robertson
- Length: 21 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The death of the Roman Empire is one of the perennial mysteries of world history. Now, in this groundbreaking book, Peter Heather proposes a stunning new solution: Centuries of imperialism turned the neighbors Rome called barbarians into an enemy capable of dismantling an Empire that had dominated their lives for so long. A leading authority on the late Roman Empire and on the barbarians, Heather relates the extraordinary story of how Europe's barbarians, transformed by centuries of contact with Rome on every possible level, eventually pulled the empire apart.
-
-
A New HIstory but not a better history
- By Mario on 03-28-14
By: Peter Heather
-
Pax Romana
- War, Peace, and Conquest in the Roman World
- By: Adrian Goldsworthy
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 15 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Pax Romana examines how the Romans came to control so much of the world and asks whether traditionally favorable images of the Roman peace are true. Goldsworthy vividly recounts the rebellions of the conquered and examines why they broke out, why most failed, and how they became exceedingly rare. He reveals that hostility was just one reaction to the arrival of Rome and that from the outset, conquered peoples collaborated, formed alliances, and joined invaders, causing resistance movements to fade away.
-
-
2 stars if youve read goldsworthy; 2.5 or 3 if not
- By fm2 on 10-21-16
-
Genghis Khan
- His Conquests, His Empire, His Legacy
- By: Frank McLynn
- Narrated by: Tim Andres Pabon
- Length: 24 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mongol leader Genghis Khan was by far the greatest conqueror the world has ever known. His empire stretched from the Pacific Ocean to Central Europe, including all of China, the Middle East, and Russia. So how did an illiterate nomad rise to such colossal power and subdue most of the known world, eclipsing Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, and Napoleon?
-
-
Well Researched but Poorly Written
- By Sean V. Werner on 08-10-16
By: Frank McLynn
-
The Ghosts of Cannae
- Hannibal and the Darkest Hour of the Roman Republic
- By: Robert L. O'Connell
- Narrated by: Alan Sklar
- Length: 13 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For fans of Victor Davis Hanson, Donald Kagan, and Barry Strauss comes a rich, sweeping account of the most imitated---and vicious---battle in history.
-
-
Hannibal's Legacy
- By Douglas on 11-10-10
-
The Crusades: The World's Debate
- By: Hilaire Belloc
- Narrated by: RJ Bayley
- Length: 9 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hilaire Belloc (1870-1953) - one of the most prominent Catholic authors of his time - gives a common-sense explanation of why the Crusades were necessary and why they ultimately failed. Writing in 1937, following the demise of the Ottoman Empire, Belloc believed that the West had finally gained the advantage over its mortal foe; however, he also includes a prophetic warning concerning the eventual resurgence of Islam and its enduring desire to destroy Christendom.
-
-
Brutally Honest Assessment
- By Anonymous User on 12-04-20
By: Hilaire Belloc
-
Hannibal
- By: Ernle Bradford
- Narrated by: Peter Jones
- Length: 9 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At the bloody battle of Cannae, he trounced a Roman army twice the size of his own. With his brothers, he subdued nearly all of Italy, Spain and Northern Africa. A cunning tactician, he secured victory for Bithynia at sea by catapulting poisonous snakes onto the decks of his enemy’s ships. Biographer Ernle Bradford draws on the historical writings of Livy, Polybius, Plutarch and others in re-creating the fantastic story of the greatest general since Alexander the Great.
-
-
Perfect Balance of Narrative and Analysis
- By John on 11-28-23
By: Ernle Bradford
-
History's Greatest Generals
- 10 Commanders Who Conquered Empires, Revolutionized Warfare, and Changed History Forever
- By: Michael Rank
- Narrated by: Kevin Pierce
- Length: 5 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Whether it is Hannibal of Carthage marching elephants across the Alps and attacking the heart of Rome, Khalid ibn al-Walid boasting an undefeated military career and destroying the Persian Empire while subduing the Byzantines, or Russian General Alexander Suvurov and his elevation of the bayonet to a work of art that could cut down any European army, great military leaders have exerted tremendous influence on society. This book will look at the lives of the 10 greatest military commanders in history.
-
-
Great Book
- By MICHAEL H on 01-27-14
By: Michael Rank
-
China
- A History
- By: John Keay
- Narrated by: Anne Flosnik
- Length: 25 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Many nations define themselves in terms of territory or people; China defines itself in terms of history. Taking into account the country's unrivaled, voluminous tradition of history writing, John Keay has composed a vital and illuminating overview of the nation's complex and vivid past. Keay's authoritative history examines 5,000 years in China, from the time of the Three Dynasties through Chairman Mao and the current economic transformation of the country.
-
-
Needs new narrator
- By Betty on 10-16-16
By: John Keay
-
In God's Path
- The Arab Conquests and the Creation of an Islamic Empire
- By: Robert G. Hoyland
- Narrated by: Peter Ganim
- Length: 9 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In just over a hundred years - from the death of Muhammad in 632 to the beginning of the Abbasid Caliphate in 750 - the followers of the Prophet swept across the whole of the Middle East, North Africa, and Spain. Their armies threatened states as far flung as the Franks in Western Europe and the Tang Empire in China. The conquered territory was larger than the Roman Empire at its greatest expansion, and it was claimed for the Arabs in roughly half the time.
-
-
Islamic conquest history from the outside
- By SAMA on 01-22-15
-
The Crusades
- The Authoritative History of the War for the Holy Land
- By: Thomas Asbridge
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 25 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Crusades is an authoritative, accessible single-volume history of the brutal struggle for the Holy Land in the Middle Ages. Thomas Asbridge - a renowned historian who writes with "maximum vividness" (Joan Acocella, The New Yorker) - covers the years 1095 to 1291 in this big, ambitious, listenable account of one of the most fascinating periods in history.
-
-
Comprehensive
- By Tad Davis on 10-04-16
By: Thomas Asbridge
-
The War of the Three Gods
- Romans, Persians, and the Rise of Islam
- By: Peter Crawford
- Narrated by: James Lurie
- Length: 11 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The War of the Three Gods is a military history of the Near and Middle East in the seventh century - with its chief focus on the reign of the Eastern Roman Emperor Heraclius (AD 610-641) - a pivotal and dramatic time in world history. The Eastern Roman Empire was brought to the very brink of extinction by the Sassanid Persians before Heraclius managed to inflict a crushing defeat on the Sassanids with a desperate, final gambit.
-
-
Filled in some blanks
- By Cory on 10-19-15
By: Peter Crawford
-
The Ghost of Freedom
- A History of the Caucasus
- By: Charles King
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 11 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Caucasus mountains rise at the intersection of Europe, Russia, and the Middle East. A land of astonishing natural beauty and a dizzying array of ancient cultures, the Caucasus for most of the 20th century lay inside the Soviet Union, before movements of national liberation created newly independent countries and sparked the devastating war in Chechnya.
-
-
fascinating story of a messy region
- By A. T. Howarth on 07-30-20
By: Charles King
-
A Brief History of the Samurai
- Brief Histories
- By: Jonathan Clements
- Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble
- Length: 12 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From a leading expert in Japanese history, this is one of the first full histories of the art and culture of the Samurai warrior. The Samurai emerged as a warrior caste in Medieval Japan and would have a powerful influence on the history and culture of the country from the next 500 years. Clements also looks at the Samurai wars that tore Japan apart in the 17th and 18th centuries and how the caste was finally demolished in the advent of the mechanized world.
-
-
An Excellent History of the Samurai
- By Michael on 08-08-14
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
The Face of Battle
- By: John Keegan
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 11 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Amazing! But probably better in print.
- By D. Martin on 04-20-13
By: John Keegan
-
The Cambridge History of Warfare
- By: Geoffrey Parker
- Narrated by: Andrew Cullum
- Length: 21 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The new edition of The Cambridge History of Warfare, written and updated by a team of eight distinguished military historians, examines how war was waged by Western powers across a sweeping timeframe beginning with classical Greece and Rome, moving through the Middle Ages and the early modern period, down to the wars of the 21st century in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria.
-
-
Too anglocentric
- By A. Siegel on 10-27-22
By: Geoffrey Parker
-
The First World War
- By: John Keegan
- Narrated by: James Langton
- Length: 20 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The First World War created the modern world. A conflict of unprecedented ferocity, it abruptly ended the relative peace and prosperity of the Victorian era, unleashing such demons of the 20th century as mechanized warfare and mass death. It also helped to usher in the ideas that have shaped our times - modernism in the arts, new approaches to psychology and medicine, radical thoughts about economics and society - and in so doing shattered the faith in rationalism and liberalism that had prevailed in Europe since the Enlightenment.
-
-
Best Military History of First World War
- By Stephen F (SPFJR) on 06-13-19
By: John Keegan
-
Intelligence in War
- Knowledge of the Enemy from Napoleon to Al-Qaeda
- By: John Keegan
- Narrated by: Richard Matthews
- Length: 15 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In fiction, the spy is a glamorous figure whose secrets make or break peace, but, historically, has intelligence really been a vital step to military victories? In this breakthrough study, the preeminent war historian John Keegan goes to the heart of a series of important conflicts to develop a powerful argument about military intelligence. In his characteristically wry and perceptive prose, Keegan offers us nothing short of a new history of war through the prism of intelligence.
-
-
Military history more than history of intelligence
- By D. Littman on 01-10-04
By: John Keegan
-
The American Civil War
- A Military History
- By: John Keegan
- Narrated by: Robin Sachs
- Length: 16 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For the past half century, John Keegan, the greatest military historian of our time, has been returning to the scenes of America’s most bloody and wrenching war to ponder its lingering conundrums: the continuation of fighting for four years between such vastly mismatched sides; the dogged persistence of ill-trained, ill-equipped, and often malnourished combatants; the effective absence of decisive battles among some two to three hundred known to us by name.
-
-
A Novel Approach (As Opposed to Novelistic)
- By margot on 11-18-12
By: John Keegan
-
Alexander the Great
- The Hunt for a New Past
- By: Paul Cartledge
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 9 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Paul Cartledge, one of the world's foremost scholars of ancient Greece, illuminates the brief but iconic life of Alexander (356-323 B.C.), king of Macedon, conqueror of the Persian Empire, and founder of a new world order. Alexander's legacy has had a major impact on military tacticians, scholars, statesmen, adventurers, authors, and filmmakers.
-
-
NOT a Chronology of Alexander’s Life
- By Blane Richoux on 12-30-20
By: Paul Cartledge
-
The Face of Battle
- By: John Keegan
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 11 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Amazing! But probably better in print.
- By D. Martin on 04-20-13
By: John Keegan
-
The Cambridge History of Warfare
- By: Geoffrey Parker
- Narrated by: Andrew Cullum
- Length: 21 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The new edition of The Cambridge History of Warfare, written and updated by a team of eight distinguished military historians, examines how war was waged by Western powers across a sweeping timeframe beginning with classical Greece and Rome, moving through the Middle Ages and the early modern period, down to the wars of the 21st century in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria.
-
-
Too anglocentric
- By A. Siegel on 10-27-22
By: Geoffrey Parker
-
The First World War
- By: John Keegan
- Narrated by: James Langton
- Length: 20 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The First World War created the modern world. A conflict of unprecedented ferocity, it abruptly ended the relative peace and prosperity of the Victorian era, unleashing such demons of the 20th century as mechanized warfare and mass death. It also helped to usher in the ideas that have shaped our times - modernism in the arts, new approaches to psychology and medicine, radical thoughts about economics and society - and in so doing shattered the faith in rationalism and liberalism that had prevailed in Europe since the Enlightenment.
-
-
Best Military History of First World War
- By Stephen F (SPFJR) on 06-13-19
By: John Keegan
-
Intelligence in War
- Knowledge of the Enemy from Napoleon to Al-Qaeda
- By: John Keegan
- Narrated by: Richard Matthews
- Length: 15 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In fiction, the spy is a glamorous figure whose secrets make or break peace, but, historically, has intelligence really been a vital step to military victories? In this breakthrough study, the preeminent war historian John Keegan goes to the heart of a series of important conflicts to develop a powerful argument about military intelligence. In his characteristically wry and perceptive prose, Keegan offers us nothing short of a new history of war through the prism of intelligence.
-
-
Military history more than history of intelligence
- By D. Littman on 01-10-04
By: John Keegan
-
The American Civil War
- A Military History
- By: John Keegan
- Narrated by: Robin Sachs
- Length: 16 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For the past half century, John Keegan, the greatest military historian of our time, has been returning to the scenes of America’s most bloody and wrenching war to ponder its lingering conundrums: the continuation of fighting for four years between such vastly mismatched sides; the dogged persistence of ill-trained, ill-equipped, and often malnourished combatants; the effective absence of decisive battles among some two to three hundred known to us by name.
-
-
A Novel Approach (As Opposed to Novelistic)
- By margot on 11-18-12
By: John Keegan
-
Alexander the Great
- The Hunt for a New Past
- By: Paul Cartledge
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 9 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Paul Cartledge, one of the world's foremost scholars of ancient Greece, illuminates the brief but iconic life of Alexander (356-323 B.C.), king of Macedon, conqueror of the Persian Empire, and founder of a new world order. Alexander's legacy has had a major impact on military tacticians, scholars, statesmen, adventurers, authors, and filmmakers.
-
-
NOT a Chronology of Alexander’s Life
- By Blane Richoux on 12-30-20
By: Paul Cartledge
-
The Allure of Battle
- A History of How Wars Have Been Won and Lost
- By: Cathal J. Nolan
- Narrated by: Julian Elfer
- Length: 25 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
History has tended to measure war's winners and losers in terms of its major engagements, battles in which the result was so clear-cut that they could be considered "decisive". Cannae, Konigsberg, Austerlitz, Midway, Agincourt - all resonate in the literature of war and in our imaginations as tide-turning. But these legendary battles may or may not have determined the final outcome of the wars in which they were fought. Cathal J. Nolan's The Allure of Battle systematically and engrossingly examines the great battles, tracing what he calls "short-war thinking".
-
-
Missing important facts and not well researched
- By Andrew on 02-24-18
By: Cathal J. Nolan
-
The Vikings and Their Enemies
- Warfare in Northern Europe, 750-1100
- By: Philip Line
- Narrated by: Robert Fass
- Length: 13 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A fresh account of some of history's greatest warriors. The Vikings had an extraordinary and far-reaching historical impact. From the eighth to the 11th centuries, they ranged across Europe - raiding, exploring, and colonizing - and their presence was felt as far away as Russia and Byzantium. They are most famous as warriors, yet perhaps their talent for warfare is too little understood.
-
-
Remarkable and comprehensive
- By Harald on 02-04-19
By: Philip Line
-
Crossroads of Freedom
- Antietam
- By: James M. McPherson
- Narrated by: Nelson Runger
- Length: 5 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Through historical newspaper accounts and the personal letters of soldiers, the events leading up to the battle and the battle itself are stunningly recreated. You will enter the mind of Robert E. Lee as he makes the fateful decision to cross the Potomac River and take the offensive. You will feel the frustration of Abraham Lincoln as he struggles to convince George McClellan to fight. And you will stand side-by-side with foot soldiers as the peaceful Maryland countryside explodes.
-
-
Far beyond the scope of the battle
- By A. McDonald on 01-26-04
-
Babylon
- Mesopotamia and the Birth of Civilization
- By: Paul Kriwaczek
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 12 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Civilization was born 8,000 years ago, between the floodplains of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, when migrants from the surrounding mountains and deserts began to create increasingly sophisticated urban societies. In the cities that they built, half of human history took place. In Babylon, Paul Kriwaczek tells the story of Mesopotamia from the earliest settlements seven thousand years ago to the eclipse of Babylon in the sixth century BCE. Bringing the people of this land to life in vibrant detail, the author chronicles the rise and fall of power during this period.
-
-
Solid overview 3000 years of history
- By Alsor2000 on 07-19-20
By: Paul Kriwaczek
-
Bible and Sword
- England and Palestine from the Bronze Age to Balfour
- By: Barbara W. Tuchman
- Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon
- Length: 12 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Two-time Pulitzer Prize - winning historian Barbara Tuchman explores the complex relationship of Britain to Palestine that led to the founding of the modern Jewish state - and to many of the problems that plague the Middle East today.
-
-
Excellent book, but not quite objective
- By Kellie on 04-25-11
-
The Iraq War
- By: John Keegan
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 8 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
John Keegan, whom the New York Review of Books calls "the best historian of our day", now brings his extraordinary expertise to bear on perhaps the most controversial war of our time. In exclusive interviews with Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and General Tommy Franks, John Keegan has gathered information about the war that adds immeasurably to our grasp of its causes, complications, costs, and consequences.
-
-
A Solid, Quick Overview
- By Charles on 12-08-04
By: John Keegan
-
The Napoleonic Wars
- By: Alexander Mikaberidze
- Narrated by: Steven Crossley
- Length: 35 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Napoleonic Wars saw fighting on an unprecedented scale in Europe and the Americas. It took the wealth of the British Empire, combined with the might of the continental armies, almost two decades to bring down one of the world's greatest military leaders and the empire that he had created. Napoleon's ultimate defeat was to determine the history of Europe for almost 100 years. From the frozen wastelands of Russia, through the brutal fighting in the Peninsula to the blood-soaked battlefield of Waterloo, this book tells the story of the dramatic rise and fall of the Napoleonic Empire.
-
-
No description of battles
- By John Gaston on 01-15-21
-
The Somme
- The Darkest Hour on the Western Front
- By: Peter Hart
- Narrated by: Mark Ashby
- Length: 20 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Somme: these words conjure the image of war rigidly fought by traditional means even when catastrophe clearly loomed. Relying on personal testimonies never before published, this study of those who survived the first day of battle (July 1, 1916) captures this epic conflagration from all angles. Follow the action as soldiers crawl across No Man’s Land in the face of German guns, struggle with the conditions in the trenches, and survey the scene from the air as the RFC tries to control the skies above the battlefield.
-
-
Harrowing Story Badly Produced
- By Bob on 02-15-14
By: Peter Hart
-
The Great War
- A Combat History of the First World War
- By: Peter Hart
- Narrated by: Roger Davis
- Length: 22 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
World War I altered the landscape of the modern world in every conceivable arena. Millions died; empires collapsed; new ideologies and political movements arose; poison gas, warplanes, tanks, submarines, and other technologies appeared. "Total war" emerged as a grim, mature reality. In The Great War, Peter Hart provides a masterful combat history of this global conflict.
-
-
Horrible Listen
- By Eric Ring on 11-16-21
By: Peter Hart
-
The First World War
- By: Hew Strachan
- Narrated by: Clive Chafer
- Length: 13 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A century has passed since the outbreak of World War I, yet as military historian Hew Strachan argues in this brilliant and authoritative new book, the legacy of the "war to end all wars" is with us still. The First World War was a truly global conflict from the start, with many of the most decisive battles fought in or directly affecting the Balkans, Africa, and the Ottoman Empire. Even more than World War II, the First World War continues to shape the politics and international relations of our world.
-
-
Outstanding narrative of the military action
- By Tad Davis on 04-30-17
By: Hew Strachan
-
The Middle Ages
- By: Morris Bishop
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 11 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this indispensable volume, one of America's ranking scholars combines a life's work of research and teaching with the art of lively narration. Both authoritative and beautifully told, The Middle Ages is the full story of the thousand years between the fall of Rome and the Renaissance - a time that saw the rise of kings and emperors, the flowering of knighthood, the development of Europe, the increasing power of the Catholic Church, and the advent of the middle class.
-
-
"It's All left to the imagination."
- By Dave Miller on 09-22-17
By: Morris Bishop
-
A Savage War
- A Military History of the Civil War
- By: Wayne Wei-siang Hsieh, Williamson Murray
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 24 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Civil War represented a momentous change in the character of war. It combined the projection of military might across a continent on a scale never before seen with an unprecedented mass mobilization of peoples. Yet despite the revolutionizing aspects of the Civil War, its leaders faced the same uncertainties that have vexed combatants since the days of Thucydides and the Peloponnesian War.
-
-
A Book about Conclusions
- By Terry Masters on 10-18-17
By: Wayne Wei-siang Hsieh, and others
What listeners say about A History of Warfare
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Mathew J. Frost
- 08-19-20
Definitely a history book
Very much a work of a history. If you enjoy learning a full history of warfare this is a great place to start. Just know this book is written by a historian and not a journalist. Therefore, it can be dry and difficult to get through some points. I would buy this book again and I will listen to it again.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Charles Olmsted
- 12-07-20
A bit too general
This book was good. It is performed well. But, it is a general survey and a specialist will notice some over generalizations or inaccurate summaries/details. Not nearly as good as The Face of Battle or Six Armies in Normandy.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Viktor V. Choban
- 06-18-19
Evolutionary and godless perspective
Bad perspective, but has Some interesting insights and that is why I gave it 4 stars
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- M. Brett Pitts
- 12-26-21
FrederickDavidson reads more war
Frederick Davidson reads with his trademark velvet voice good war history. Fast paced history many be too much for those not already familiar with world history. Valuable information for more global perspective, albeit a bit heavier with Western history than rest of the world.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Tom R
- 08-06-18
A Big Story to Tell
This book tries to cover a lot of territory from ancient tribal warfare to the nuclear bomb and post colonial rebellions. The book looks at social and technological aspects of warfare. Its long chapters with titles such as Stone, Flesh, Iron, and Fire loosely center around those topics. It is nearly impossible to separate them from one another.
The big takeaway from the book for me is how limited war really is. We put social limits on war such as not allowing women and children to participate. (Yes, there are exceptions.) There are technological limits such as how accurate a firearm can be. And there are logistical limits based on how can an army keep its fighters supplied with food, water, and munitions.
Of particular interest to me were the social and logistical limits. In primitive societies, it seems war is very ritualized and limited as to when, where, and how it is fought. Thus large scale death is avoided. Logistical limits seemed to limit the size of any fast growing, large scale empire such as the Huns or Alexander the Greats movement. It was also interesting to see how these limits can be somewhat thwarted, at least for a time, by the willingness of combatants to fight such as the Confederacy holding out against the United States in the American Civil War.
The only problem I had with the book was largely my own expectations. I would expect it go to go one way, and it would go another. Therefore, I was struggling with the text. I normally embrace this kind of challenge to my thinking, but for some reason, it just irritated me. I think I felt as if I was missing some important information. This book could have easily been twice the length and still not have been comprehensive enough for me. Maybe that was the real challenge I had with the book.
If you are interested in learning more about war, I would recommend this book.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Trevor
- 09-06-11
Interesting - but not outstanding
This is a solid scholarly work. However, it is not exhaustive regarding the history of warfare and examines only several snippets to prove some anthropological points. These points are good, the work is solid and well-researched, but not greatly exciting. The narrator was solid, but the work was not the most exciting of Keegan's (whom I admire as a leader in his field).
If you like Keegan, get his book on the Iraq War. And please somebody narrate his Face of Battle books.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Samantha L.
- 12-04-23
Academic, with exploratory chapters.
The interludes made the book much more valuable.
It is important for the reader to know that this book was published in the early 90’s, before the GWOT and perhaps before culture as an attack vector for warfare was appreciated in the West.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
- Mark
- 12-05-06
Not what I expected
I have mixed feelings about this book because its not a history of warfare as I expected it to be. First off, its not well structured. It meanders all over the place, challenging Clauswitz's notion that war is an extension of policy, delving into a history of the world in general (trashing various anthropologists along the way), and finally, after spending too much time on the ritualized warfare of primitive peoples, gets into some forms of fighting here and there. What I wanted (and expected) was to understand the evolution of warfare from the standpoint of technology, tactics, operations, and grand strategy. I hoped to walk away from the book with an understanding of how people fought in each era, the factors causing them to fight that way, and perhaps learn a little more about some famous battles along the way. I indeed did learn some of that from this book, and some of his meanderings are interesting, but I really had to wade through a lot of superfluous gibberish to get there. I also have to agree with another reviewer's comment that the book is pretentious. I like Keegan's work, but I have one suggestion for him: focus man.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
23 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Mr. Jones
- 03-23-19
Unique view on the History warfare
I found it worthwhile. I like Keegan of course the narration is in Posh English as is the writer. So following for some is a tiny bit of a challenge. Though worthwhile if you patiently focus. I'd have to listen to this several times to fully absorb the depth of the writer's point of view.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
- Amazon Customer
- 04-22-10
Terrific Keegan
I found this a terrific review of war over the millenia. Many insights, frequent references to the validity of Clausewitz's views. I wish I'd had Keegan as a professor.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful