The Oxford Book of Military Anecdotes (Oxford Books of Prose)

book: The Oxford Book of Military Anecdotes (Oxford Books of Prose)

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The Oxford Book of...

	The Oxford Book of Military Anecdotes (Oxford Books of Prose) Oxford University Press, USA, 2002 - 528 pages average customer review:based on 1 review view larger image
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If anecdotes are marginal notes on the pages of history, these will delight any reader who has ever been moved or entertained by the condition of the soldier. Few fields of human endeavor have inspired so many memorable anecdotes as warfare, from the Bible and Livy through Gibbon and Froissart, to the imperial wars of the nineteenth century and the world conflicts of the twentieth.

This collection is principally concerned with American and British conflicts, with, as the author says, "occasional forays among the ranks of foreign armies"--notably the Greeks, the Romans, and Napoleon's veterans. Hastings has sought stories that illustrate the military condition through the ages, both on the battlefield and in barracks: comic, eccentric, heroic, tragic. Here are Caesar at the Rubicon and the revolt of the Praetorian Guard; Alexander's horse and Prince Rupert's dog; the legendary Mother Ross enlisting in search of her lost husband in 1693; Evelyn Waugh as the least plausible of commandos; General Douglas MacArthur's good luck charm "Charlie," a lump of lava rock carved into a Hawaiian warrior; and much more. Some of the stories will be familiar to students of military history while others are less well known, but all provide fascinating sidelights to history.

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Diverse collection for the historian or average reader

Max Hastings has compiled a truly stellar group of personal stories of campaigns dating from the Bible to the Falklands War. Each item is briefly introduced, with any background needed to understand the context of the story as it relates to the battle or campaign. It being the "Oxford Book of Military Anecdotes" the emphasis is on British history, but there's also a fair number of French, and American stories thrown in as well. Active or retired military members of most countries will especially enjoy the fights against bureaucracy going back to the Napoleonic Wars-plus ca change I guess. Anyway, it's too bad though, that almost no German or Russian stories are included-but any anthology requires some fairly tough editing to make publication. In fairness, Mr Hastings explains that there just weren't "that many" German anecdotes, and I expect that linguistic difficulties and sources (my copy is dated 1985) excluded the Russians. A more surprising omission is a lack of ancient Greek military stories, a few of which are almost common knowledge (at least in military circles.)
The publishing date is, I think, the only real issue I have with the book. After almost ten years, a new edition with Ancient Greece, plus maybe the Vietnam, and Gulf I/II would further enchance an excellent book. Highly recommended.

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