Selected Product:
| The Mask of Command
Paperback
Author: John Keegan
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Release Date: 1988-10-04
ISBN-10: 0140114068
ISBN-13: 9780140114065
List Price: $16.00
Average Customer Rating:
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In this incisive analysis of generals, John Keegan examines the meaning of heroism as represented by Alexander the Great, Wellington, Grant, and Hitler, and argues that generalship, like warfare itself, is a cultural activity that has, through the years, required a change in the very nature of leadership. 16 pages of photos.
A fun read, sometimes incisive, sometimes downright wrong.
| Customer Rating:  | The Mask of Command is a fun read with plenty of good ideas to go around but the casual reader needs to be very careful as Keegan sometimes gets things just plain wrong.
Take for example the essay on Grant, called "Unheroic Leadership". Analyzed as such because Grant subscribed to the idea of never leading from the front (mainly because leading from the front was both impossible and foolish by the beginning of the America Civil War), Keegan digs into what made Grant an especially fine general. While some of his finds are clever and his psychological assessment of Grant seems to hold water, his understanding of Grant as a particularly adept technocrat who adapted to the changing role of technology in the war is downright wrong.
I direct those of you who are interested in the truth to both Charles Dana's accounts of the civil war and to Lincoln's writings. Both of these men found Grant's use of the telegraph paltry and Lincoln was many times found wanting more information from Grant's camp. Indeed, Keegan assumes that Grant's use of the telegraph was a key ingredient to his unheroic leadership because he harnessed new technology to direct troops appropriately, but this is patently false as Grant despised sending telegraphs to anyone at all. It is much more likely that Keegan was sniffing the right path in declaring Grant as extremely proficient in his ability to surround himself with capable men such as Sherman and McPherson proved to be.
As I said, the careful reader will find quite a few discrepancies and a little digging will result in Keegan getting caught with his pants down, but there is also much to like about the book - just be careful with it because Keegan isn't.
Three stars is a bit harsh, but four stars would be too much. 3 1/2 is about right. |
Leadership Profiles: Separate but Close.
| Customer Rating: | "The Mask of Command" is a very commendable reading for different audiences: those interested in specific military topics, those interested in history (as myself), those who research on leadership and more, much more, because John Keegan writes with a dynamic and fluent style and expose his ideas very engagingly.
Four historical figures are chosen as examples for this study; we may dissent with the choice. I'm sure every reader will have a different list, if forced to select four characters among the enormous list of suitable candidates.
Each Commander is presented in his historical background: political and social circumstances; his staff and soldiers, his ideals and goals, his methods and resources.
Then each one is compared and confronted with the other subjects.
Here is where Mr. Keegan displays a very imaginative and didactical approach.
A deep insight into the commandeering skills of these forceful characters, separated in time and space, but very close to each other in the quests they have to solve.
A great book to be sure!
Reviewed by Max Yofre.
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armchair analysis with lots and lots of words
| Customer Rating: | | I didn't think much of this book. Keegan's character introductions at the beginning of each section are quite good. When reading about Wellington's adventure throughout the four days of the Waterloo campaign, I believed that Keegan had written a great book. Then I got to his analysis and comparison to Alexander. As I fought my way through these subsequent pages of boredom I kept asking myself the question, "who cares?" The whole premis of the book would be better discussed over a couple beers and then only by history nerds. I would not recommend this book to anyone in the military, specifically in combat roles, hoping to mine some leadership leasons. I would have given the book two stars except for Keegan's undeniable command of exciting history prose, which is unfortunately only evident in small doses throughout this book. |
Excellent Work by the World's Best Military Historian
| Customer Rating: | | John Keegan's Mask of Command is another great book from a truly great author. This is not necessarily an easy read, though certain parts read like a gripping novel. I read the book 20 years after it was written and find it to be an excellent study in command despite only a few outdated references (Soviet Union, etc). I would like to see Keegan publish a revised edition with his insight on the challenges of today's commanders and heads of state who must combat terrorism more than the spectre of Nuclear Holocaust. |
A Fascinating Study of Military Command
| Customer Rating: | John Keegan's highly accessible study of "The Mask of Command" was written 20 years ago but continues to hold up as an excellent examination of military leadership for the general reader.
Keegan provides fascinating case studies of the leadership styles of Alexander the Great of Greece, the British Duke of Wellington, American General U.S. Grant, and Adolf Hitler as Fuhrer of Germany. The physically courageous and flamboyant Alexander is styled the "heroic" leader; the understated Wellington an "anti-hero"; Grant, a humble man who had known personal hard times, as "unheroic"; and Hitler, a highly skilled practioner of theatrical propaganda, as the "false-heroic" leader. The case studies are engrossing if inevitably simplified for brevity; Keegan has captured the essentials of each man and the associated lessons of leadership.
Leadership studies are a challenging topic. It should be noted that Alexander and Hitler were simultaneously military leaders and heads of state, while Wellington's and Grant's civilian leadership roles came after their military careers. Changes in technology and society have had enormous impact on military leadership. Leading from the tip of the spear as Alexander did was almost a requirement in his day but would seem foolishly exposed in our own. Wellington's hands-on tactical leadership would become impossible on the far larger battlefields of the 20th and 21st century. Grant's willingness to take casulties would likely be politically unsupportable now, as it nearly was in his time. Hitler's leadership was an aberation in more ways than one. Keegan gets well-deserved credit for producing such a concise and readable book on such a tough topic.
This book is highly recommended to the general reader looking for an introduction into the study of military leadership. |
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