Length19h 13m
About this audiobook
In this encyclopedically learned and immensely gripping book, one of our foremost military historians demolishes the famous dictum that war is the continuation of policy by other means. Beginning 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, where self dissolves rational purpose, where pride reigns, where emotion is paramount, where instinct is king." Keegan's analysis of centuries of conflict unveils the deepest motives behind humanity's penchant for mass bloodshed.
A History of Warfareis a masterpiece of military scholarship, irresistible in its style and terrifying in its implications.
Audiobook details
Rating★★★★ 4.1 (7.5K)
Includes Goodreads, LibraryThing, Amazon, StoryGraph
GenreHistory
Length19 hrs 13 mins
Narrated byFrederick Davidson
FormatAudiobook
Publish dateJun 22, 2005
LanguageEnglish
More from John Keegan
A Brief History of IntelligenceMax S. Bennett12h 18m4.6 (6.6K)$29 · $0.00
Pearl of Great PriceJoseph Smith3h 8m4.7 (7.2K)$1.20 · $0.00
The Happiest Man on EarthEddie Jaku3h 48m4.6 (178K)$7 · $0.00
MotherlandJulia Ioffe17h 52m4.7 (2.5K)$40 · $0.00
Where Cowards Go to DieBenjamin Sledge8h 42m4.7 (351)$20 · $0.00
RevolutionariesSanjeev Sanyal11h 23m4.6 (2.6K)$29 · $0.00
We Crossed a Bridge and It TrembledWendy Pearlman6h4.6 (5.2K)$24 · $0.00
Unbroken Bonds of BattleJohnny Joey Jones8h 31m4.6 (2.6K)$8 · $0.00
The Daughter of AuschwitzTova Friedman, Malcolm Brabant7h 54m4.6 (16.7K)$26 · $0.00
Lily's PromiseLily Ebert, Dov Forman8h 54m4.6 (16.1K)$29 · $0.00
On Democracies and Death CultsDouglas Murray10h 38m4.6 (6.5K)$29 · $0.00
Across the RiverKent Babb11h 40m4.6 (927)$29 · $0.00
Balcony Over Jerusalem: A Middle East Memoir - Israel, Palestine and BeyondJohn Lyons12h 37m4.6 (1.4K)$33 · $0.00
BeyondStephen Walker15h 39m4.6 (3.2K)$33 · $0.00
Kings and PawnsHoward Bryant10h 9m4.6 (678)$29 · $0.00
No EscapeNury Turkel9h 30m4.6 (809)$28 · $0.00
Jubal Stone: U.S. Marshal: Blood Trail To Hell: A Western Adventure NovelCasey Nash3h 42m4.6 (3.2K)$18 · $0.00
Fall and RiseMitchell Zuckoff17h 23m4.6 (9.8K)$40 · $0.00
The SurvivorJosef Lewkowicz, Michael Calvin9h 22m4.6 (2.5K)$29 · $0.00
Always FaithfulThomas Schueman, Zainullah Zaki12h 12m4.6 (977)$29 · $0.00
You may also like
The Chrysanthemum and the Sword: Patterns of Japanese Culture (Annotated)Ruth Benedict11h 36m4.1 (8.8K)$2 · $0.00
Masters and CommandersAndrew Roberts23h 55m4.3 (1.7K)$53 · $0.00
War & PeaceLeo Tolstoy65h 22m4.4 (431.6K)$1 · $0.00
Reclaiming Israel’s HistoryDavid Brog9h 28m4.5 (595)$20
WarlordCarlo D’Este30h 4m4.3 (1.4K)$39
War and PeaceLeo Tolstoy63h 40m4.2 (399K)$3.50 · $0.00
How the States Got Their ShapesMark Stein6h 28m4.0 (14.4K)$24 · $0.00
The History of the Peloponnesian WarThucydides22h 7m4.2 (51.1K)$32
History of the Great War (All 6 Volumes)Arthur Conan Doyle58h 17m3.9 (47)$1 · $0.00
British Colonial Warfare – 5 Classic Military TalesHarold Frederic, Mary Johnston, María Ruiz de Burton, Erskine Childers, George Chesney43h 47m$2
Ordeal by BattleFrederick Scott Oliver12h 13m$2 · $0.00
The SequelGeorge A. Taylor4h 17m$2 · $0.00
The Fighting PattonsBrian M. Sobel14h 14m4.3 (68)$25 · $0.00
War and the Future: Italy, France and Britain at WarH. G. Wells6h 40m3.2 (56)$2.30
The Fire on the Ocean: Naval War of 1812 (Annotated)Theodore Roosevelt18h 28m$2 · $0.00
Problems of the PacificFrank Fox6h 52m$2 · $0.00
War and the Arme BlancheErskine Childers14h 32m$2 · $0.00
The Negotiator in YouJoshua N. Weiss PhD1h 23m3.5 (72)$13
The Healing of Nations and the Hidden Sources of Their StrifeEdward Carpenter3h 53m$2 · $0.00
The Leadership MasterclassNathan Cole1h 30m$6.80 · $0.00