Customer Reviews

Warrior: The Legend Of Colonel Richard Meinertzhagen

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

 

 

Capstick's writing style has a tendency to leap forward a lot and he tosses in personal comments about his wife and his own thoughts. I feel this would throw off a novice reader. However, the story of Richard Meinertzhagen is incredible, a true Victorian son, with a life that was filled with danger, travel, big game hunting, perilous adventures we can only dream of and meetings with some of the most influential men in the 20th century. I would have given the book another star, but the writing was haphazard. Meinertzhagen, a service British officers, fought in Africa against the only German general who wasn't defeated, Lettow-Vorbeck. He escaped death on countless occasions, brutally killing many times, with pistol, rifle, bayonet and knobkerrie war club. He served in the Arabian area under Allenby, using his intelligence gathering skills to great advantage for the allies. He survived a ship being torpedoed off the coast of Italy in 1917, over Palistine, his two man plane was shot to pieces by a German fighter, wounding the pilot. Meinertzhagen managed to land the plane and walk from it. He outwitted German intelligence officers on many occasions, once dropping opium laced cigarettes over Turkish lines, the trick worked and when a major British offense began, many Turks were unable to stand or talk. He was an avid Zionist and befreinded T E Lawrence as they struggled to help the Israeli state develope. He debated the Zionist movement with Churchill and lobbied at the Peace treaties in Paris. He was almost killed on the very last day of the war. In the 1930's, after much travel, he met with Ribbontrop and Hitler. On the third visit, Meinertzhagen pocketed a revolver and could have easily used it on Hitler, altering history to no end. When he first met Hitler in Berlin, Hitler greeted him with "Heil Hitler." Not hear of this infamous cry, Meinertzhagen replied "Heil Meinertzhagen". No one was amused in Hitler's chambers. An interesting book to read nonetheless, aside from the late author's flash forward dialogs and comments. A truly unique and interesting man.

I stumbled upon this book over Thanksgiving, and thought I would give it a try. I have a great deal of interest in the Expeditionary Forces that left from India during WWI, so I thought this would be a welcome addition towards my understanding of operations in British East Africa. Well to sum it up, it wasnt really. This book is a very superficial biography of Meinertzhagen, using suprisingly very few sources. As noted by earlier reviewers, the book is consistently broken up by narratives of the author's own experiences, which may or may not have anything to do with the story at hand. If you are looking for a serious biography of Meinertzhagen, this is not for you. If you are looking for a light read with no particular substance, this is it.

This is not Peter Capstick's best work. The writing is not up to the standards of his earlier works. It lacks the verve we have come to expect and it seems to have more digressions than usual. Yet I am glad I read it.

Partly this is due to the fact that the book was left unfinished at his death. It is always difficult to prepare a text for posthumous publication; it must have been especially hard for his widow to do so. As I read I kept in mind the fact that PC did not have the opportunity to make the final revisions and additions that writers typically make.

Nonetheless, the book has much to offer Capstick fans. First, it's Capstick, and no one currently at work is as good at telling a rousing story. Second, the subject is interesting. Meinertzhagen packed five lifetimes of adventure into his years.

Third, Capstick shows us Africa in 1890-1915, not as an exotic Shangri-La, but as a flesh and blood place (emphasis on blood). All the stories of ivory hunters and safari took place against a backdrop of colonial expansion and administration. Nearly all the African hunting books gloss over what this meant for hunters and natives. Capstick deserves credit for filling in that gap with honesty and understanding.

Finally, PC invites us to see the continuity between the colonial Africa he writes about here and the modern Africa he loved. Most writers see the two as separate and judge them in harsh terms: either colonial soldiers are 100% evil or post-colonial Africa is a horrendous failure which spoiled an idyll. Capstick gives us a more nuanced and balanced perspective.

If you are new to Capstick's writing, his other books are better choices. But if you are a committed fan like me, don't pass on this book.

Unfortunately, this is one of the most poorly written and edited non-fiction books I have ever read. I say unfortunately, because the subject of this book is first rate biography fodder, having been deeply involved in British colonial wars of East Africa, leading commando actions against the Germans during WWI in East Africa and the Middle East, and working as an OSS agent in WWII--as well as being a hunter of epic proportions and something of an ornithologist.

Capstick chooses to concentrate on the "legend," eschewing any research, preferring to simply cite from Meinertzhagn's own diaries at length rather then take the time to provide any corroborating documentations. This is a shame since it is left to to the reader to decide what part of the tale is true and what is not--no small task given that Meinertzhagen destroyed a large portion of his diaries in 1942, which raises the possibility of revisionism on his part in the later years of his life. Not to mention the remarks in his diaries regarding T.E. Lawrence which have been ably refuted by historians, nor the recent news that at least one of his major ornithological "discoveries" was in fact a fraud on his part.

Capstick clearly was unable to organize information in any sensible manner, and his editor (if there actually was any), certainly didn't bother to help. For example, tacked onto the end of a lengthy paragraph about Meinertzhagen's dislike for other races is the only mention of his first marriage!

No, instead Capstick presents a rambling accounting the juiciest of events from the diaries, detracting from these by interjecting his own barely coherent diatribes against "greens" as well as numerous instances of the "I know just how Dick felt, I too..." variety. Clearly Capstick has an almost hero-worship of his subject, and thus totally waffles around Meinertzhagen's clearly racist views and blood lust. On page 220 he states as much: "This complex man's psychological makeup is not the point of this book. His glorious adventures and cunning bravery are." This is all well and fine except that his subject's "adventures" including loads of killing, including an Indian for mishandling his horse.

Meinertzhagen's life was certainly fascinating, but I'd suggest waiting to read about it in a competently researched and written biography, not in this homage.

This is a very bloody book, but so was Africa in the 1890-1920 timeframe - A Post-Bellum backwater - and one wonders why the British or the Germans were there.

The best passsages cover Meinhertzhagen as a leader of men - his boldness and his careful calculations, as an intelligence operative and officer - his gaining entry to a Russian fort is hilarious, and his observations of Post-Bellum Africa - where the slave trade has collapsed and the Boer War is over with.

In the end, all things written and done by Meinertzhagen must be judged against his role as a British Intelligence Officer - his diary entries, his "ornithology", and his whereabouts and actions. The one true constant is his devotion and loyalty to the Empire and his empathy for the downtrodden and unjustly treated.

The dispatch of men with "amateur" interests is an old, old ruse that reaches as far back as Aristotle's trip to Thessaly if not further.

An almost uncritical biography of the subject, and a shamelssly uncritcal preudo-autobiography of the author. All cited sources are in Meinertzhagen's own publications. Barely worth the effort of reading.

When I ordered this book I looking forward to reading about this great man, However the author's constant interuption of the story with his (the author's)innane snippets of life in some of the same places in Africa, almost total spoilt this book for me, If I wanted a book about Mr Chapstick thats what I would have ordered, what I wanted though was a book about Richard Meinhertzhagen. Having vented my wrath, the book does cover his life in some detail, I only wish it had been written by a better author.

A very disappointing book - it should be subtitled "a mini biography of Peter H Capstick." Capstick is arrogant enough to think that the reader will be just as interested in him as the they are in Meinertzhagen! It is not well written as Capstick rambles off on tangents (usually about himself) at very regular intervals. He professes to be an expert where he clearly is not eg he disputes the well known fact that anti-malarial drugs can mask the symptoms of the disease.

A great pity that a potentially interesting book has been spoilt by a self interested author!

Col. Meinertzhagen was one of the greatest warriors of his day, a Richard Burton, Lord Stanley and Lawrence of Arabia all wrapped into one. He was also a fascinating individual who was a big game hunter and at the same time a man who collected one of the greatest bird collections for museum use at the time. An expert therefore on birds and a jungle fighter against Leetow-Vorbecks Germans in German East Africa(Tanzania). He led Africans in many fights of the First World War and was most well known for leading secret British septerfuge missions against the Turks in Palestine, leading to the capture of Beersheba. In the 1930s he was an admirer of fascism but hated the Nazis for their racist policies. In the 1920s he was also a great admirer of ZIonism and claimed to be an essential element in the founding of Israel, a fact overlooked today. He was a great warrior and this book tells his story full of bravado. The book concentrates also on his big game hunting exploits, but it is afanciful account.

Seth J. Frantzman

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this biography. I do agree with other reviewers that this is less an in-depths study of the life of a man than a caricature. Nobody could kill as many animals in as short a time as Meinertzhagen or be able to identify them all so successfully - this was clearly bragging.
As for his military exploits, these are more believable. There are individuals in combat that live a charmed life; look at Major Richard Winters, 101st airborne.

I have less faith in the stories where Meinertzhagen told off general so-and-so. A major or captain just doesn't do that, despite his admirable military acumen. This is probably bragging.

My main complaint about this book is that it is written by a South African. There is a language barrier in translating from Afrikaner to English. This means re-reading a paragraph to isolate its meaning.

Obviously, this book suffers from its over-dependence on Meinertzhagen's own diaries and other information.
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