Customer Reviews

The Story of the Malakand Field Force

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Warning!! The Edition of this book published by Alan Rodgers Books/Aegyptian Press has NO MAPS!!! I strongly recommend that you do not buy that edition. I am sure sorry I did. I wish I could recommend an edition that I know does have maps, but from the information available on their web pages I can't tell if they do or not. I just went and took a look on the web and the original edition had 6 maps. Churchill obviously assumed in the text that maps were going to be available to refer to. It is VERY DIFFICULT to figure out what was going on during the campaign without them.

This is a book which I value tremendously. Rarely are books so well written as this; and whatever Churchill wrote in 1897 in this account still holds very much true, if not more so, for the context of this narrative. Were I to write an account on this subject today, it would hardly differ from Churchill's. His opinions are still very much valid, and those who value truthful methods of analysis are well aware of this. This book must not be spurned by experts. Given the nature of the current overall situation prevailing in this region and its effect on the rest of the world, this book becomes more important than ever as a reference primer.

Brilliant portrayal of this ferocious area. Both then and now. Was required reading for army officers. Probably should be now.

This review is for the edition published by Book Jungle (The Story of The Malakand Field Force). The story itself is well-written and entertaining - the young Churchill was already confident, witty and sometimes eerily insightful. However, this edition does not contain any of the maps which Churchill meant to be included. They are not absolutely necessary to understanding the action, but they would certainly help, and it would be nice to have them. You should probably look for another edition...

This is Churchill's first book and it was an immediate bestseller as well as controversial. Although written over a hundred years ago, the book portrays the beligerant nature of the mountainous country in Pakistan now infested with Taliban fighters. Churchill's portrayal of certain high ranking generals exposes the idiocy of the British army in selecting people based on lineage rather than leadership. This caused quite a tremor in certain circles. Churchill was an unrepentant colonialist, throughout his life, who did not think very much of "natives," as he called them and his language and temperment shows through on the pages. But again we must understand that this book was written over a hundred years ago. Although this was his first book, Churchill's skill at writing is quite polished, without being pretensious in the least. The battle scenes are dramatically portrayed and one gets the feeling of desperation and the intensity of the siege of Malakand (the original title was called Siege of Malakand but was changed by the publisher because it was felt that natives could not besiege a crack British army of any size).

What ruins this Kindle edition is the lack of maps, which would have made the book far more interesting. This is a serious flaw. It does seem at times certain electronic publishers are far more interested in pumping out books than actually putting out quality merchandise. That said the formatting isn't bad but it did have some issues when it came to chapter breaks. As another reviewer stated it is often hard to see if the book has maps or is properly formatted. Amazon should do a better job of describing the contents of books and ensure that there are basic standards for formatting.