Isandlwana

Rating:
Summary: a battle with boredom
Review: I just finished reading Isandlwana by Adrian Greaves and regrettably foumd it most disappointing. I had anxiously awiated its arrival.The story of the 24th at Isandlwana is one of the most exciting and heroic in all of military history.How an author can make the whole thing land with a thud is amazing. Very little space in the book is devoted to the actual battle. At least to some extent I want to be transported to the battlefield and feel the action myself. This never happened. The only place I was transported to was dreamland.

Rating:
Summary: A solid account with new thinking
Review: Isandlwana was one of the most famous battles in the British colonial wars, sort of a Zulu War equivalent of the American Battle of the Little Big Horn, with the supposedly inferior "natives" overwhelming the "civilized" military force. Arian Greaves' book is a solid, albeit not overly detailed, account of the battle and its background, well illustrated and containing several very informative maps. I especially appreciated Greaves' explorations of recent discoveries about the actual orders issued to the doomed column of British soldiers, lifting much of the cloud which lay over the reputations of the senior field commanders who had been killed. For persons not yet familiar with the Zulu War of 1879, this book will make a good introduction, yet still offers something new to those who have read the standard works in the past.

Rating:
Summary: excellent background to the battle
Review: Overall, this proves to be a very readable book on the Campaign of Isandlwana. The background information involving the troops, Zulus and politics proves to be very informative and well written. Even the aftermath of the battle proves to be quite good as the authors' researched revealed many aspects of interest. However, I wasn't too impressed with the way the author wrote the battle. The maps - while very colorful, wasn't every effective. Description of the battle failed to convey the situation very clearly. I would recommend Zulu Victory by Ron Lock for the best written account of the battle and this book for the best written background material to the battle. If you read both books, you should have an excellent understanding of the entire Isandlwana campaign.