Soldiers: A History of Men in Battle - John Keegan & Richard Holmes

Warfare, for good or for ill, has exerted a strange and compulsive fascination since time began. It is an arena in which man is tested to his very limits, where extremes of exhilaration and triumph mingle with terror, suffering and tragedy. In a curious fashion, battle enlarges man, making him not less but more human.

SOLDI ERS explores the art of combat through the ages as experienced by the soldiers themselves from infantry to gunner, from sapper to fighter pilot. It recounts the rise of warfare from its origins as a clash between foot soldiers armed with primitive edged weapons to its present state of sophisticated confrontation between automated electronic systems.

And in a fascinating analysis, it looks at what makes a good soldier, the fighting spirit, the trauma of death, killing and being wounded, the motivation of the guerrilla fi ghter and the tactics necessary to win a war.