The Other Face of Battle: America's Forgotten Wars and the Experience of Combat

by Wayne E. Lee, David L. Preston, David Silbey, Anthony E. Carlson Narrated by Danny Campbell

Overview

Taking its title from The Face of Battle, John Keegan's canonical book on the nature of warfare, The Other Face of Battle, illuminates the American experience of fighting in "irregular" and "intercultural" wars over the centuries. Sometimes known as "forgotten" wars, in part because they lacked triumphant clarity, they are the focus of the book. David Preston, David Silbey, and Anthony Carlson focus on, respectively, the Battle of Monongahela (1755), the Battle of Manila (1898), and the Battle of Makuan, Afghanistan (2020)-conflicts in which American soldiers were forced to engage in "irregular" warfare, confronting an enemy entirely alien to them. This enemy rejected the Western conventions of warfare and defined success and failure-victory and defeat-in entirely different ways.



War is always hell. These wars, however, profoundly undermined any sense of purpose or proportion. Nightmarish and existentially bewildering, they nonetheless characterize how Americans have experienced combat and what its effects have been. They are therefore worth comparing for what they hold in common as well as what they reveal about our attitude toward war itself. The Other Face of Battle reminds us that "irregular" or "asymmetrical" warfare is now not the exception but the rule. Understanding its roots seems more crucial than ever.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

"This is an important book at the right time, reminding us that we cannot define war as we might like it to be. Enemies, too, have agency and authorship. And they are unlikely to conform to the other side's preferences. There are indeed two ways to fight, asymmetrically and stupidly. You hope that your adversaries pick the latter. But if they do not, you will wish that you had read this book." —H.R. McMaster, author of Battlegrounds: The Fight to Defend the Free World and Dereliction of Duty: Johnson, McNamara, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Lies that Led to Vietnam

"The Other Face of Battle offers a fascinating study of American wars in which the cultural terrain is as vital as the physical terrain, and though it deals with lesser-known engagements, the resonances for Americans trying to think their way through our modern wars are profoundly universal." —Phil Klay, author of Missionaries and Redeployment

Product Details

BN ID:	2940177006550
Publisher:	Tantor Audio
Publication date:	06/29/2021
Edition description:	Unabridged

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