The Boer War, Martin Bossenbroek
The Boer War, Martin Bossenbroek
3 Rating(s)
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The Boer War

Author: Martin Bossenbroek, Yvette Rosenberg

Narrator: James Langton

Unabridged: 19 hr 21 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Recorded Books

Published: 01/09/2018


Synopsis

Winner of the Libris History Prize 2013
Shortlisted for the AKO Literature Prize

The Anglo-Boer War (1899–1902) is one of the most intriguing conflicts of modern history. It has been labeled many things: the first media war, a precursor of the First and Second World Wars, the originator of apartheid. The difference in status and resources between the superpower Great Britain and two insignificant Boer republics in southern Africa was enormous. But against all expectations, it took a huge sum of money and a campaign of systematic terror against the civilian population for the British to win the war.

In The Boer War, winner of the Netherlands’ 2013 Libris History Prize and shortlisted for the 2013 AKO Literature Prize, the author brings a completely new perspective to this chapter of South African history, critically examining the involvement of the Netherlands in the war. Furthermore, unlike other accounts, Martin Bossenbroek explores the war primarily through the experiences of three men uniquely active during the bloody conflict. They are Willem Leyds, the Dutch lawyer who was to become South African Republic state secretary and European envoy; Winston Churchill, then a British war reporter; and Deneys Reitz, a young Boer commando. The vivid and engaging experiences of these three men enable a more personal and nuanced story of the war to be told, and at the same time offer a fresh approach to a conflict that shaped the nation state of South Africa.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Marc

I was hoping for a book on the Anglo-Boer War (as it should be called) that would spend more time on the war’s causes, the antiwar opposition, the concentration camps, and so on, but while it doesn’t ignore these questions, it doesn’t give them the time they deserve. So, it’s largely a book about th......more

Goodreads review by John

This book is not a history of the Boer War so much as a detailed account of English triumphs and tragedies during the Boer War, with a much thinner treatment of the Boers. History is written by the victors, I guess. Nothing about the Netherlands' role, and very little about the role of religion on t......more

Goodreads review by Red

A good book to capture the complexity of what was a confusing war - who was on the side of whom, and for what reasons, and for how long? One of Judd's main points is that overriding goal of both Brits and Dutch Boers was to maintain white rule, even as they battled each other. The Brits used a common......more