Fields of Battle: The Wars for North America

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Fields of Battle: The Wars for North America

John Keegan, the author of Fields of Battle: The Wars for North America (334 pgs), is a very distinguished military historian. Keegan attended Oxford University, in England, his place of birth. He was Delmas Distinguished Professor of History at Vassar in fall 1997. He was a Fellow of Princeton University in 1984 and Lecturer in Military History at Cambridge, 1986-87. From 1960-1986 he was Senior Lecturer in Military History at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst. Since 1986 he has been Defense Editor of The Daily Telegraph. He was awarded the OBE in the Gulf War honors list, 1991. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and a Doctor of Laws of the University of New Brunswick. He is a Visitor of Hugh Sexey's Hospital, Bruton, and is a Trustee of the National Heritage Memorial and Heritage Lottery Funds. He was the BBC Reith Lecturer for 1998, and has lectured at countless other places around the world. John Keegan is also the author of many other military-history books like The Face of Battle, The Second World War, Who’s Who in Military History, and A History of Warfare, to name a few. Despite being English, Keegan professes his love for America, but interestingly, not for Americans. Keegan says that he has visited America more than fifty times, whether for business or pleasure, but never even hints at having the desire to make the good ole’ U.S.A. his place of residence. Nonetheless, he certainly has a great knowledge of North America and its history of warfare.

Fields of Battle: The Wars for North America is sort of a semi-autobiography of John Keegan’s life. At the beginning, end, and countless parts throughout the book, Keegan makes references to trips to America, his childhood conceptions of America, places he has lectured, famous people he met (Bill Clinton included), and old battlefields he has visited. The rest of the book contains very detailed accounts of the major battles fought on North American soil. This begins with the settling of North America by the British and French and their battle for dominance. Next, Keegan covers The Revolutionary War (or The War of Independence, as it is called in England). Then we are informed about the Civil War, wars against the native Indians, and finally about the invention of the airplane and its importance and effect on warfare in more recent years.

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