Published in 1976 Sir John Keegans The Face of Battle was a groundbreakingwork in military history studies providing narrative techniques that served asa model ... » 

Published in 1976 Sir John Keegans The Face of Battle was a groundbreakingwork in military history studies providing narrative techniques that served asa model for countless subsequent scholarly and popular military histories.Keegans approach to understanding battles stressed the importance of smallunit actions and personal heroism an approach widely employed in thenarratives produced by reporters embedded with American combat troops in Iraq.Challenging Keegans seminal work The Eye of Command offers a new approachto studying and narrating battles based upon an analysis of the works of theRoman military authors Julius Caesar and Ammianus Marcellinus. Kimberly Kaganargues that historians cannot explain a battles outcome solely on the basis ofsoldiers accounts of smallunit actions. A commanders view exemplified inCaesars narratives helps explain the significance of a battles major eventshow they relate to one another and how they lead to a battles outcome. Theeye of command approach also answers fundamental questions about the waycommanders perceive battles as they fight themquestions modern militaryhistorians have largely ignored.The Eye of Command is a remarkable booksmart thoughtful clear vigorousfactual but creative and grounded in the practical. It is at once scholarlyand readable combining classical scholarship and military theory. Rarely haveI come across a book that makes twothousandyearold events seem so alive.Barry Strauss Professor of History Cornell UniversityIn a work well written concisely presented and convincingly argued Kaganuses examples from Caesars Gallic Wars to challenge John Keegansfocus onlowerechelon experiences of battle in favor of The eye of command anarrative technique emphasizing decisions and events that shape a battlesoutcome.Dennis Showalter Professor of History Colorado CollegeTo know whether a battle is won or lost is «