Title: Just a Cheery Little Book about wars in Africa and Asia
Product review: Byron Farwell knows how to tell a tale. The best part of reading a book by Farwell is that he doesn't just give you the straight story, he also gives you the background to how it happened, why it happened, and who made it happen. For me the best part of his stories are the historical sketches of the men who fought Queen Victoria's wars of conquest and punishment.Farwell takes time in each pastiche to tell you how the general got to be a general, how he was considered by his collegues and those who fought under him. There a great quotes taken from contemporary memoirs and regimental accounts that have statements like, " I wouldn't put him in charge of planning a child's birthday party", or " the man had commanded a desk for thirty years, and now they want him to command real soldiers, quite the waste of good men".It is interesting to follow along and see how so many of these wars was fought for pride or just plain pig-headed orneryness.
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