A History of Warfare

By: John Keegan

Narrated by: Frederick Davidson

Length: 19 hrs and 12 mins

Publisher's summary

Starting with the premise that all civilizations owe their origins to warmaking, Keegan probes the meanings, motivations, and methods underlying war in different societies over the course of more than two thousand years. Following the progress of human aggression in its full historical sweep, from the strangely ritualistic combat of Stone Age peoples to the warfare of mass destruction in the present age, his illuminating and lively narrative gives us all the world's great warrior cultures, including the Zulus, the samurai, and the horse peoples of the steppe, as well as the famed warmakers of the West. He shows why honor has always been accorded to the soldierly virtues, whatever the cultural context, and how war has maintained its singular hold on the imagination, reaching into "the most secret places of the human heart, places where self dissolves rational purpose, where pride reigns, where emotion is paramount, where instinct is king".

©1993 John Keegan (P)1994 Blackstone Audiobooks

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)

Not what I expected

Should be called "Anthropological Roots of Warfare". Long winded and plodding.

A Wasted Audibl "Token

I have downloaded 31 books from Audible and this is the first that is so dense, academic and erudite as to be painful to listen beyond the first hour. The narrator has a stuffy, upperclass tone that is just impossible to listen to for more than 10-15 minutes at a time. You would think you were listening to a university professor from 1850. I AM REALLY MAD ICANNOT RETURN THIS BOOK AFTER ONLY LISTENING TO JUST 3% OF NEARLY 20 HOURS. I FEEL CHEATED BY AUDIBLE

Terrible

What disappointed you about A History of Warfare?

Another reviewer put it best; This book just meanders along aimlessly. 2/3rds of the way through I gave up and literally began to use it as my go-to sleep aid. It's that bad.

Has A History of Warfare turned you off from other books in this genre?

A little. It's hard to find great narration in historical texts.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

He sounds like a pompous British guy who in my mind would be a late 18th century textile barron. Not only does he sound boring with his: cadence, perfect annunciation, and complete lack of inflection, but he also sounds like a complete jerk. I feel like I'm hassling him, as though he's bothered by me asking him to read this book aloud. I'm sorry bro - don't be a...

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

None. Not one.

Any additional comments?

Don't buy this audio book. It would be less painful to actually read it.

A big dissapointment

I really like Keegan, but this one book was very academic and pompous. One hour into it, you still hear about the life and times of Klausewitz. At that point I gave it up, I wanted to listen about the history of warfare, not a biography of Klausewitz. The narrator's voice was annoying too. Get armed with a lot of patience for irrelevant beating around the bush...

Uninformative

Woefully short on insightful analysis and long on unfounded conclusions. Narration was droll and monotonous.