Warrior A Visual History of the Fighting Man

The first thing to note is that this is a beautiful book, with illustrations on every page; most are in color, and many are spectacular. — Library Journal

We are how we fight: Browse the uniforms, weapons, barracks and tactics in this ‘visual history of the fighting man’ and you’ll see just how far Kevlar-clad, GPS-guided troops have come. — Men’s Health

User Ratings and Reviews

3 Stars Not really as good as it ought to be
Accurate and detailed picture books surveying the history of weapons and combat equipment have always been popular with students of military history, model makers, and hobbyists. Books built around mostly large photographs, like this one, are more interesting than those that depend on artwork, like the highly regarded Osprey series — but there’s a trade-off. Attempting to cover the whole of history from ancient Greece to the present, as this one does, are forced to rely on photos of modern re-enactors, since so few actual weapons and armor have survived from even a few centuries ago. As a result, this book, while generally quite good for the period from the mid-18th century to the present, is necessarily sketchy for Greece, Rome, and medieval warfare. (The Osprey books, on the other hand, make heavy use of reproduced monumental carvings for weapons in the classical world, which is how military archaeologists know about this stuff in the first place.) Some periods and types of soldier are well-known, but others, like the Landsknect, may be new to many readers.

From the American Civil War on, coverage of fighting men and their gear is thick with detail — no surprise. The two world wars and Vietnam are well covered. The war in Iraq not so much, though there’s a great deal of new equipment in use; specious “national security” considerations, no doubt. The Korean War is ignored, even though there was a lot of carry-over from WWII. There’s a natural bias on the side of British units in the modern world (like the SOE and SAS) that may annoy American readers, but there’s also an interesting section on the Foreign Legion.

There are some questionable editorial decisions. Sioux warriors were not part of any military organization in the Western sense — not even as much as the Maori and Zulu, who are also covered. And devoting so many pages to photographs of the B-17 and its typical crew seems unbalanced; “warrior” implies (at least to me) engagement in hand-to-hand, or at least close-up, fighting. Bomber pilots, while they may have been heroic, simply aren’t the same sort of thing. And there are some surprising omissions, such as the U.S. Army in the War with Spain in 1898, which was rather different from the American military of the civil War or World War I. There’s also very little about artillery down the ages, especially in the Napoleonic Wars and the 20th century. There are also some historical inaccuracies. “Viking” was an occupation, usually a temporary one, not a nationality; you can’t talk about “Viking weapons” with any sort of universality, but the author does it anyway. All in all, this is a pretty nice oversize volume — but it could have much better, as well as a little thicker.

5 Stars just what it says
This was a gift for my son. It was a beautiful book and he enjoyed receiving it.

5 Stars IT IS VISUAL AND IT IS AWESOME
I consider myself a military history fan and could not believe you can buy such a beautiful piece for under $30.00. After (and even better BEFORE) reading history books or watching history movies this book lets you understand HOW exactly all the participants looked, were dressed and WHAT they used as weapons.

The best thing about it is that to see all these authentic items in real life one would have to go around the world and visit thousands of museums, and we all know that it’s not possible.

4 Stars Good Book for What it Says
Lots of overlap with another DK Publishing book I bought, “Weapon: A Visual History of Arms and Armor.” If you are using this book for the details about the lives of soldiers, it is a great overview resource for the enthusiast. However, if you are looking for a visual reference of weapons, armor, and gear–this is largely redundant to the other book I already mentioned, and not quite as in depth on that subject.

5 Stars Warrior: A Visual History of the Fighting Man
I enjoyed reading this book and intend to purchase other books of this type especially about land and naval warfare.

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