We have updated our Privacy Policy Please take a moment to review it. By continuing to use this site, you agree to the terms of our updated Privacy Policy.
Featuring previously unpublished sources, this ‘enjoyable as well as massively impressive’ bestseller is a definitive account of the Boer War (Financial Times)
The war declared by the Boers on 11 October 1899 gave the British, as Kipling said, ‘no end of a lesson’. It proved to be the longest, the costliest, the bloodiest and the most humiliating campaign that Britain fought between 1815 and 1914.
Thomas Pakenham’s narrative is based on first-hand and largely unpublished sources ranging from the private papers of the leading protagonists to the recollections of survivors from both sides. Mammoth in scope and scholarship, as vivid, fast-moving and breathtakingly compelling as the finest fiction. The Boer War is the definitive account of this extraordinary conflict – a war precipitated by greed and marked by almost inconceivable blundering and brutalities…and whose shattering repercussions can be felt to this very day.
‘Not only a magnum opus, it is a conclusive work … Enjoyable as well as massively impressive’ –
Financial Times
‘This is a wonderful book: brilliantly written … the reader turns each page with increasing fascination and admiration’ -A.J.P. Taylor
The war declared by the Boers on 11 October 1899 gave the British, as Kipling said, ‘no end of a lesson’. It proved to be the longest, the costliest, the bloodiest and the most humiliating campaign that Britain fought between 1815 and 1914.
Thomas Pakenham’s narrative is based on first-hand and largely unpublished sources ranging from the private papers of the leading protagonists to the recollections of survivors from both sides. Mammoth in scope and scholarship, as vivid, fast-moving and breathtakingly compelling as the finest fiction. The Boer War is the definitive account of this extraordinary conflict – a war precipitated by greed and marked by almost inconceivable blundering and brutalities…and whose shattering repercussions can be felt to this very day.
‘Not only a magnum opus, it is a conclusive work … Enjoyable as well as massively impressive’ –
Financial Times
‘This is a wonderful book: brilliantly written … the reader turns each page with increasing fascination and admiration’ -A.J.P. Taylor
Newsletter Signup
By clicking ‘Sign Up,’ I acknowledge that I have read and agree to Hachette Book Group’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Use
Reviews
Thomas Pakenham, one of the auspiciously prolific Longfords (he is the brother of Antonia Fraser, above), has now given this epochal contest its first full-length treatment in nearly 70 years. In the course of his long narrative, he skillfully maps out the causes, the course and the aftereffects of the war. He examines the actions of the leading personalities on both sides, and carefully traces the transformation of the conflict into a war of attrition. Among the book's many strengths are Pakenham's use of unpublished and even some previously unconsulted sources (including some 52 veterans whom he interviewed); his vivid descriptions of military engagements and his attention to ways and means... An intelligent, vigorous, firmly grounded presentation--and, self-evidently, the new standard work.
Hypnotically readable ... A tremendous feat of research ... this is grand-scale history with heroes and villains ... hot, impassioned work, and I recommend it wholeheartedly
Not only a magnum opus, it is a conclusive work ... Enjoyable as well as massively impressive