War: The Definitive Visual History

The Definitive Visual History

by Saul David

With a comprehensive directory of every war, campaign, and battle in history, a visual resource looks at weapons and technology, strategy and tactics, and the experience of war, including eyewitness accounts from soldiers and civilians, image galleries of weapons and armor, and profiles of great leaders.

Genres: History, War, Nonfiction, Reference, Military History, World History

512 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2009

About the author

SAUL DAVID was born in Monmouth in 1966 and educated at Ampleforth College and Edinburgh and Glasgow Universities (History MA and PhD).

An expert in the wars of the Victorian period, he began writing his first history book when he was twenty-five and has since completed eight more. They include: The Homicidal Earl: The Life of Lord Cardigan (1997), a critically-acclaimed biography of the man who led the Charge of the Light Brigade; The Indian Mutiny:1857 (2002), shortlisted for the Westminster Medal for Military Literature; Zulu: The Heroism and Tragedy of the Zulu War of 1879 (2004), a Waterstone's Military History Book of the Year; and the bestselling Victoria's Wars: The Rise of Empire (2006). In 2007 he signed a three book deal with Hodder & Stoughton to write a series of historical novels set in the late Victorian period. The first, Zulu Hart, was published on 5 March 2009 to critical acclaim with The Times describing it as a 'rattling good yarn' with 'a compelling, sexy hero who could give Cornwell's Sharpe a run for his money'. He is currently writing a history of the British Army.

Reviews

[Ritiel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Normally I don't read these "visual atlas" from the beginning to the end, like we normally do with novels, since it is not exactly the purpose of such atlas. However, this one is about a subject of great interest to me, and I read it all, page by page, in order. And despite what I initially thought, it was a very pleasant reading. The war is well detailed in all of its features, from its dawn to modern times, in a simple and easy way.

But the most important, the book is organized in a way that the reading does not become boring, or hard to follow, the events exposed are very well connected by appropriated texts, linking this great mix of subjects, making possible somehow to read it as a novel. For those interested in a survey of the the wars of our history, this is a good start.

[Andre · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick visual overview of the history of war. Nicely presented, it's a short (selected) list of wars that dips in more than expand upon the subject.

[Dylan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great reference book. There are several of this style book from the same publisher (I've read the general history one already). Extremely readable by reference book standards, images are fine but mostly nice to break up the text a bit. The directory of battles/conflicts at the end is also a real nice tool to jump to if you need a starting place with something. Such a broad topic naturally leaves the info vague but leaves someone with enough info to jump off and easily find more detail.

[Hari · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating look at war throughout history...not as detailed as the WWII visual guide, but still awesome.

[Ronald Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

A comprehensive history of warfare from the beginning of recorded history to the present. Very engaging book, complete with maps and pictures.

[Marc Therrien · Rating 4 out of 5]

Une bonne vue d'ensemble sur les conflits à travers l'histoire.