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Title: The Devil Soldier: The American Soldier of Fortune Who Became a God in China by Caleb Carr ISBN: 0-679-76128-4 Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks Pub. Date: April, 1995 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.33 (12 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: Fascinating story of a rogue mercenary terrorist legend
Comment: In this involving and well-written account, Carr strains to elevate the importance of Ward, a historical footnote, a mercenary of questionable repute and eventual Qing dynasty functionary whose prime contribution was the cobbling together of the use of "superior and modern" Western weapons against backwards sword and spear carrying Taiping rebels. And by Carr's own account, Ward was only partially successful. To thank him for his assistance (which ultimately helped maintain both Western imperial domination of China, the opium trade, and the extension of the corrupt and weak Qing empire), in a relationship of dual purpose, the Manchu Qing regime (not the Chinese people)gave him an official title and a Chinese wife. Carr's pro-Western bias is strong, as is his strange love of the Ward myth, which he does his best to overblow. Carr's sourcing is spotty, and in too many places, he speculates---typically in ways that favor Ward. This book, and indeed the Ward story itself, presents a very enlightening model of how violent rogue mercenaries, terrorists, and intelligence cutouts are used to assist governments in "counter-insurgency" wars throughout history, such as the Phoenix Program.
Rating: 5
Summary: Early battles in 'war on drugs'
Comment: This is a bit of a stretch for the conventional Western military history, but an excellent one. Most readers will probably think of General Ward's biography in terms of traditional 19th century nation state narratives. Let me propose a different one, the context is 'opium wars'. The story goal is defeating the merchants of opium, the English. The outcome is bittersweet. This requires the reader to do more 'reading between the lines' than usual, but the rewards are there for those interested.
While the book's focus is Fredrick Ward, a true soldier of fortune, the 'Chinese drug wars' are really more central. The period covered begins with the British winning the 'Opium War'. To make sense of this, imagine Columbian drug lords defeating the US Army and demanding control of an airport in Miami. By treaty right, the Columbian drug lords would we granted the right to fly cocaine to any airport in America. If you can imagine this, substitute Queen Victoria for the Columbian drug lords and Shanghai for Miami.
As should be required, the book begins by discussing hypocrisy. England's Royal navy is primarily in China to help the East India Company sell opium. The 'Christian' leader of the Taiping rebellion preaches puritanical virtues, but surrounds himself with concubines. Our hero emerges from the New England merchant class, a class that simultaneously smuggles slaves to the American slave states and finances abolitionist politics. Unfortunately, the theme is not followed throughout. The final chapter dwells on legal battles over Ward's treasures rather than the continuing twists in the drug wars and associated hypocrisy.
The narrative spends most of its time on Ward's invention, the 'Ever Victorious Army' or 'Ward's Chinese Corps'. As evidence that necessity is the mother of invention, the 'Ever Victorious Army' came into existence through the whim of fortune. Western powers in Shanghai had no desire to see it emerge, since it represented a threat to the British control of the opium trade. The Imperial Chinese were to entrench in tradition to accept the innovation. It was only the existence of a 100,000 man rebel army 30 miles from Shanghai that provided Ward his 'opportunity' to build his vision.
Fredrick Ward remains something of a mystery in his biography. He died in action before we could really tell what he was building. Few of his letters escaped destruction, so we rarely hear his own voice. Instead, Carr is forced to infer from events and news paper accounts. Most readers will have to overcome their skepticism about Ward's career being ample material for a full-fledged biography. In this context, Ward seems the forgotten inventor. Charles 'Chinese' Gordon won the publicity war and his buddies wrote the history books. Gordon 'China' role is limited compared to Ward. Gordon took over Ward's cross-cultural invention, the 'Ever Victorious Army', and won the army's last battle. His job was simply to maintain it long enough to win one battle, and peacefully disband the thing. For this, he gets his own big budget Hollywood movie, Khartoum, staring Charleston Heston. In contrast, Ward invents a modern Chinese Army and provides a working model to interested Japanese observers. Guess who I think more interesting.
Rating: 4
Summary: A solid read
Comment: Carr appears to make the most out of the limited resources available on Ward, although he repeatedly reminds readers that almost all of Ward's papers were destroyed.
A good complement to Spence's book, Both are readable.
One shortcoming of the book is that Carr used Wade-Giles for the spelling of all the Chinese names of individuals and places. While this decision is understandable considering that some of the original documents used such spelling, Carr should have included a glossary with the Chinese and/or Pinyin names so that readers familiar with the Chinese and/or Pinyin names could more readily identify whom and what Carr is talking about.
He could have also put some of the sites into a modern context better.Such as that Siccawei is the site of Xujiahui and the cathedral, or that Hung Ch'iao is the site of Hongqiao and one Shanghai's airports. Finally, he missed that there is a Taiping memorial out at Kao Chi'iao (Gaoqiao), the site of one of Ward's battle sites.
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Title: Killing Time by Caleb Carr ISBN: 044661095X Publisher: Warner Books Pub. Date: January, 2002 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: The Angel of Darkness by Caleb Carr ISBN: 0345427637 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: July, 1998 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: The Lessons of Terror: A History of Warfare Against Civilians: Why It Has Always Failed and Why It Will Fail Again by Caleb Carr, Caleb Carr ISBN: 0375508430 Publisher: Random House Pub. Date: 29 January, 2002 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: The Alienist by Caleb Carr ISBN: 0553572997 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 July, 1995 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: The Lessons of Terror: A History of Warfare Against Civilians by Caleb Carr ISBN: 0375760741 Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks Pub. Date: 11 March, 2003 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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