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Article: Sailing In Harm's Way
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- April 16, 1989
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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THE PRICE OF ADMIRALTY
The Evolution of Naval Warfare By John Keegan
Viking. 292 pp. $21.95
IN 1976, John Keegan, then a professor at the Royal Military
College at Sandhurst, introduced a winning formula for popular
history in his masterfully narrated The Face of Battle. In that
book, case studies of three battles-Agincourt, Waterloo and the
Somme-focused on what battle is really like to its participants (not
nice).
The formula worked again in The Mask of Command (1987), with case
studies of four commanders-Alexander the Great, Wellington, Grant and
Hitler. Once again Keegan's skill as storyteller was wonderful, with
just the right anecdote to carry each point. But this time the ...