The Illustrated Face of Battle is military history straight from the battlefield: a look at the direct experience of individuals at "the point of maximum danger." Without the myth-making elements of rhetoric and xenophobia, breaking away from the stylized format of batttle descriptions, John Keegan has written the definitive model for three famous battles: Agincourt, Waterloo, and the Somme. He succeeds, too, in conveying the reality for the participants, whether facing the arrow cloud of Agincourt or the steel rain of the Somme.

This magnificent illustrated edition contains a new introduction by the author and is superbly designed and produced. The illustrations include paintings, prints, engravings,, photographs, and battle plans. They have been carefully selected not just to illustrated the text but also to form a fascinating reappraisal of the visual images of battle showing how these have changed and been manipulated over the centuries.