I Am Soldier: War Stories from the Ancient World to the 20th Century

by Robert J. O'Neill and Richard Holmes

Book Overview

Beginning with Julius Caesar, who is still considered to be the best solider-writer of all time, history has witnessed a strong tradition of warriors mixing the pen with the sword. In I Am Soldier... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0340983434
• ISBN13: 9781846035159
• Release Date: December 2009
• Publisher: Osprey Publishing (UK)
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.3" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Faces in the battles

Richard Holmes is a well-respected British war historian and this collection of his brings together written images of the soldiers and wars from antiquity through the modern era. Though it's a thin book, about 240 pages, there are better than fifty profiles. The early examples rely on archeology in addition to written documents, and with more modern literacy we get the soldier's own words in later profiles. Roman, Spartan, Japanese, Greek, French, American, Serbian, Christian crusader... They all appear as human first, their background and military indoctrination examined, and then later as soldiers. There's a lot of commonality through the centuries which is surely the main point of the book. It's a worthwhile book, vast in scope, yet relatively short. I think of it as a compliment to the excellent Faces of Battle (The Face of Battle) which took a more in depth look at a handful of archetypal soldiers (British soldiers at Agincourt, Waterloo, and the Somme). This is much farther ranging, but gives only a feel for the environment of each of the soldiers rather than the detailed, gritty exploration by Keegan.