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Title: Boer War by Thomas Pakenham ISBN: 0-380-72001-9 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 01 December, 1992 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $21.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.58 (19 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Excellent historical work
Comment: In my opinion, works of history are to be judged by two standards: (1)Is it readable? Much history is dry, wooden, and laborious. Pakenham's book, however, is exceptionally readable. The narrative flows quickly, and while at first it is sometimes difficult to keep tabs on all the players, he seems mindful of this, and reminds the reader why a certain character is re-entering the story.
But much history that is readable is just as often trite, superficial, hopelessly popularized, or worse, just plain bad history. This brings me to the second standard (2): Does the author interact with the original sources? Or does he/she merely repeat what others have written on the subject?
Pakenham did his research. He engages original sources, actually interviewed Boer War veterans, and even did some interesting detective work to uncover more documents germaine to the topic. Many of his conclusions are probably controversial, but whether one agrees with him or not, one has to grant that he does engage the original sources.
One more thing worth mentioning: This work is noticably lacking in the self-concious national self-flagelation that marks historical scholarship in the last decade. There is no need for Pakenham to say, "Imperialism was so awful!", because he lets the historical actions (and actors) speak for themselves. The result is a moral stance that is not pedantically moralistic.
Rating: 4
Summary: Eerie parallels to Vietnam
Comment: There is much to commend about Thomas Pakenham's history of the Boer War. The nature and origins of the conflict are cogently presented. He describes the main actors in the tale ' Alfred Milner, Cecil Rhodes, Paul Kruger, Jan Smuts, etc. ' with a dramatic flair that greatly adds to the readability of the book and turns the history of the conflict into a clash of personalities as much as a clash of empire. The author also does a superb job putting the events of the Boer War in the context of the Victorian Age and the last days of Splendid Isolation of the British Empire. Finally, the book has a number of detailed, but easy to follow maps that greatly enhance the readers ability to follow and digest the narrative (those who frequently read military history understand that this isn't a trivial point).
Ironically, however, the thing that struck me the most about this book was something the author never commented on at all: the remarkable historical parallels between the Boer War and the US war in Vietnam sixty-five years later. In light of salient differences in the conflicts (time, place, technology, people, the outcome -- the British 'won'-- etc.), the wars followed a similar trajectory and the British and American forces developed similar responses to similar challenges.
To begin with, the British and American forces suffered from a significant handicap in intelligence collection and mobility, a disadvantage neither side was ever able to overcome. Second, both the British and Americans deployed massive amounts of troops to the theater, but only a small fraction were ever able to engage the enemy, creating an extremely long and cumbersome 'tail' with precious few 'teeth.' Third, the inability to effectively hold territory or engage the enemy in open battle deprived the British and Americans of traditional battlefield metrics, and ultimately led to the use of enemy 'body count' (Kitchener called it 'the bag' but it was the same idea in principle) as the ineffective but de facto measurement of success. Fourth, the challenge of keeping the civilian population separated from the marauding guerillas led the British and Americans to the same response, including locking local populations up in protected communities (called 'laagers' in South Africa and 'hamlets' in Vietnam) and the creation of a protective fence to prevent the enemy from penetrating territory ostensibly held by local forces. Fifth, attempts to fight the enemy on even terms led both the British and Americans to develop their own version of guerillas to fight along side friendly locals (the carbineers in South Africa ' including the famous Breaker Morant ' and the Marine Corps' Ruff-Puffs in Vietnam). Finally, the British and American war efforts were gravely undermined by massive public unrest against the war on the home front.
For those with a keen interest in military history in general or colonial/anti-insurgency campaigns in particular, this book is not to be missed.
Rating: 5
Summary: Sensational book
Comment: I'm very pleased that Thomas Pakenham's classic has been reissued as an affordable paperback. Now I can stop borrowing the library's hardcover copy. This is without doubt the finest, most authoritative general history of the Boer War. Pakenham's lively writing style makes the book readable and enjoyable, and the scholarship is so good that you know what you are reading is reliable.
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Title: Scramble for Africa... by Thomas Pakenham ISBN: 0380719991 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 01 December, 1992 List Price(USD): $22.95 |
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Title: The Washing of the Spears: A History of the Rise of the Zulu Nation Under Shaka and Its Fall in the Zulu War of 1879 by Donald R. Morris, Mangosuthu Chief Buthelezi ISBN: 0306808668 Publisher: Da Capo Press Pub. Date: 01 September, 1998 List Price(USD): $23.00 |
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Title: Crimea: The Great Crimean War, 1854-1856 by Trevor Royle ISBN: 1403964165 Publisher: Palgrave MacMillan Pub. Date: 01 February, 2004 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: The Boer War: 1899-1902 (Essential Histories) by Gregory Fremont-Barnes ISBN: 1841763969 Publisher: Osprey Publishing (UK) Pub. Date: 01 May, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Queen Victoria's Little Wars by Byron Farwell ISBN: 0393302350 Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: 01 July, 1985 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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