John Keegan has 5 audiobooks on Listento.it, narrated by 6 narrators, with an average listener rating of 4.5★ across 11 ratings. The most-rated is The Face of Battle.
The Face of Battle
Summary
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—his fears, his wounds and their treatment, the mechanics of being taken prisoner, the nature of leadership at the most junior level, the role of compulsion in getting men to stand their ground, the intrusions of cruelty and compassion, the din and blood. Set battles, with their unities of time and place, may be a thing of the past, but this anatomy of what they were like for the men who fought them is an unforgettable mirror held up to human nature.
©1976 John Keegan (P)2001 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
The American Civil War
Summary
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. Now Keegan examines these and other puzzles with a peerless understanding of warfare, uncovering dimensions of the conflict that have eluded earlier historiography. While offering original and perceptive insights into psychology, ideology, demographics, and economics, Keegan reveals the war's hidden shape - a consequence of leadership, the evolution of strategic logic, and, above all, geography, the Rosetta Stone of his legendary decipherments of all great battles. The American topography, Keegan argues, presented a battle space of complexity and challenges virtually unmatched before or since. Out of a succession of mythic but chaotic engagements, he weaves an irresistible narrative illuminated with comparisons to the Napoleonic Wars, the First World War, and other conflicts. The American Civil War is sure to be hailed as a definitive account of its eternally fascinating subject.
©2009 John Keegan (P)2009 Random House
Six Armies in Normandy
Summary
In a burnished, driving prose, incorporating a myriad of fresh sources, John Keegan tells the story of the Allies' greatest military achievement as he chronicles the 1944 invasion of Normandy, from D-Day to the liberation of Paris. Includes: The Americans in their gallant and terrifying night drop on the eve of the landings The Canadians in crucial action at the Omaha beachhead The English tanks and infantry savagely fighting their way inland The Germans in their surprisingly strong resistance The Poles in exile blocking the German escape route in a fierce and desperate firefight The French, liberating at last the City of Light
©1982 Sir John Keegan (P)2000 Blackstone Audiobooks
Winston Churchill
Summary
The eminent historian John Keegan charts Churchill's career, following his steadfast leadership during the catastrophic events of World War II while England was dangerously poised on the brink of collapse. With wonderful eloquence, Keegan illuminates Churchill's incredible strength during this crucial moment in history and his unshakable belief that democracy would always prevail. Keegan looks at Churchill's speeches, which are some of the greatest examples of English oratory, and identifies his ability to communicate his own idea of an English past as the source of Churchill's greatness. He also sheds light on the political climate of Churchill's time. The result is an insightful, sensitive portrait of Churchill the war leader and Churchill the man.
©2002 John Keegan (P)2002 Books on Tape, Inc.
What If? Part 1
Summary
What if Hitler had won the war, if Japan had another sneak attack, or if the cold war turned hot? What If? provides a fascinating new perspective on history's most pivotal events. Featuring today's foremost historians speculating on what could have happened, we discover where we might be if history had not unfolded the way it did. Listen to these never-before-published essays in which the keenest minds of our time ask big, tantalizing questions about our history and why, how, and when our fortune was made. The answers promise to be surprising, frightening, and entertaining...oh my!
©1999 American Historical Publications, Inc. All Rights Reserved (P)1999 by Simon & Schuster, Inc. All Rights Reserved