Soldiers: Great Stories Of War And Peace

Soldiers: Great Stories of War and Peace is a wide-ranging anthology edited by historian Max Hastings, drawing on his lifetime of reading and writing about conflict. Bringing together nearly 350 short pieces by many writers, it traces what it has meant to bear arms across the centuries, shifting between the heroic, tragic and darkly comic, and between famous figures and ordinary fighters. The collection ranges from the ancient world through to modern wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, with stories featuring everyone from Boudicca and Joan of Arc to Ulysses S. Grant, George S. Patton and the SAS. Hastings also highlights writers who served in uniform, alongside accounts of women soldiers and wartime roles, and reflects on changing attitudes to war, from glory to grief, and the growing recognition of civilian suffering.

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Editor: Max Hastings