Allan Mallinson: The Shape of Battle

My guest in this week’s Book Club podcast is the historian, novelist and former Army officer Allan Mallinson. He introduces his new book The Shape of Battle: Six Campaigns from Hastings to Helmand, and tells me why everyone should take an interest in warfare – as being the most complex of all human interactions; whether war is always ‘hell’ for everyone involved; and how while the technology may change, the essentials remain the same.