Scramble africa thomas pakenham

The European nation's race to expropriate a continent, by an eminent historian. Hardcover. English. Jonathan Ball. 1991. ISBN: 0947464476. 738pp with bw illustrations and twenty-one maps. Good condition in hardcover. no dw. Book No: 2001904

A masterpiece of military history, overturning many received ideas. Working over unexamined archives, and talking to survivors, Pakenham casts new light on the origins and the course of the Anglo-Boer war of 1899-1902, from which modern South Africa derives. He reveals a link between Milner, the governor-general who provoked the war, and Rhodes and Beit, the gold-mine owners who wanted to profit from it; he explains the quarrels between the British generals, who fought each other when they had time to spare from fighting the Boers; he helps to rehabilitate Buller, whom he shows at least to have done his best; and he emphasizes the importance of the black inhabitants, who provided a fifth of the war's 60,000-odd dead, and have been ignored in many previous works on the subject. A fine display of understanding of the past. (Kirkus UK) Softcover. English. Abacus. 2012. 659pp. In good condition. Book No: 2500144