Ep5 – Classic books: John Keegan’s Face of Battle

Spencer interviews Gary about one of his favourite books, John Keegan’s Face of Battle. Published in 1976, it deals first with the structure of historical writing about battles, the strengths and weaknesses of the "battle piece," and then with the structure of warfare in three time periods—medieval Europe, the Napoleonic Era, and World War I - by analysing three battles: Agincourt, Waterloo, and the Somme, all of which involved English soldiers and occurred in approximately the same geographical area. Gary talks about how he came to purchase this book in the late 1970s and how he worked with Keegan in the 1990s. Finally, Gary considers some of the weaknesses of the book in the light of nearly half a decade of histography.