Customer Reviews:
 A proper pucka book June 16, 2007
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
Having previously read Holmes's other works, "Redcoat" and "Tommy", I knew what to expect, and, all in all, I wasn't disappointed. As the author says in the preface, this isn't a moralizing book. It isn't in the remit of the book to serve judgement on the rights and wrongs of empire. What Holmes actually does is say what happened and what were the day-to-day experiences of the people involved, whether they be British soldiers, sepoys, British civilians or Indian civilians. This book is packed full of the most interesting extracts from the letters and journals of those involved. However, not wishing to detract too much from an engaging book, the prose is a little bit clunky at times; I found myself re-reading sentences quite regularly and even then only understanding the gist of what was intended, rather than the details. One slight problem I encountered was the naming of the chapters being a bit mysterious. I couldn't consistently predict from its title what each chapter would be about and they often digressed and overlapped. Still, it's a welcome addition to my collection -- well worth a read.
Brilliant, engaging and full of trivia February 25, 2007
13 out of 13 found this review helpful
In response to the other review posted of this book,you are just plain wrong! Richard Holmes has once again excelled himself with a truly compulsive history that provides some excellent elaboration on the contents of his earlier works "Redcoat" and "Wellington". Admittedly the first 90 or so pages which outline the background of the British in India and Afghanistan are pretty hard work but once you get past those this book is a treasure trove of rarely discussed historical nuggets. There are excellent descriptions of the joys of "pig-sticking", the British sport of choice, the (usually brutal) punishments meted out to recalcitrant soldiers, and just as you expect the book to be winding down there are excellent closing chapters on sanitation, prostitution and the bizarre matrimonial escapades of the soldiers and officers. Some geo-political background is necessary, for example,to understand the differences between British Army troops, East India Company troops and privateers but in the main this book gives an excellent "ground-level" view of 18th & 19th century soldiering.
 not his best July 9, 2006
5 out of 16 found this review helpful
I have read and enjoyed most of his works but this one was hard going - in fact boring. I hoped for much more real life account on the frontier soldier, but he goes on and on about the top political level of governing India which is not the title of the book!
I might go back to it (only got a few chapters in) but I will need to be bored.
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