- Hardcover: 400 pages
- Publisher: Viking; First Edition / First Impression edition (10 July 2004)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0670915289
- ISBN-13: 978-0670915286
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 15.8 x 4.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 328,928 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Allan Mallinson, The Times
'Hell Riders...is a first-rate account...written with humour and understanding...a masterly, moving and entertaining book.'
Sunday Times
'Terry Brighton has tracked down...written testaments left by survivors to give us a radical interpretation of the controversial charge'
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I wonder how many military actions there have been in the last couple of hundred years that lasted about 30 minutes and cost around 400 lives (around 200 British and presumably about the same on the Russian side)? Several hundred, I'd guess, maybe more, but The Charge of the Light Brigade (actually it was more of a trot until the last few yards) still holds the attention of the British public, and as I bought this book I can hardly stand above that! In my defence it is the first "Charge" book I have read, but how does an author make so little action last for 364 pages? That's nearly twelve pages per minute of actual action!
The answer is, by dividing the book into four parts.
The first part is probably the best and that is a very colourful and fast-moving account of the origins of the war, the politics involved, the preparations, voyage and landfall in Turkey, then Russia. If this sounds dull (it would have done to me) then don't be put off. The author writes with confidence but with a light touch; the level of detail is enough to understand and the colourful yet loathsome characters of Lucan and Cardigan give plenty of colour.
The second part of the book, bizarrely, is the actual charge/trot itself, told by editing together the first-hand accounts of the survivors and told minute-by-minute. This is ok, but the survivors' accounts are very similar to each other and I was left feeling if I had read one of them and maybe two I wouldn't have had to read the rest. Unlike, say, Waterloo, every man involved was on the same part of the field and experienced very similar things. I was also left slightly puzzled to be only halfway through the book with the main event already over.
The third part is a description of life for the cavalry after the charge and again for a novice like myself this was very interesting - although quite distressing if you have any love for horses (or humans, I suppose).
The final part of the book is devoted to a series of `controversies'. The most interesting is who was to blame (read it for yourself - I disagreed). Other `controversies' include whether Florence Nightingale was a better nurse than Mary Seacole, who sounded the charge, and murder. In other words it feels a lot like either self-indulgence on the part of the author or space-filling.
The maps were generally clear and helpful. Set against this I was really irritated by the title "Hell Riders" and the persistence with which the term "hell" was used, not because I am prudish or think it is blasphemous, but because the casualty rate really doesn't justify it. The pictures were fairly interesting but I would have been very interested to see some modern pictures of the ground. (There are one or two on the Flickr website, but nobody seems to quite know where the charge took place and it certainly looks very shallow for a valley.)
The answer is, by dividing the book into four parts.
The first part is probably the best and that is a very colourful and fast-moving account of the origins of the war, the politics involved, the preparations, voyage and landfall in Turkey, then Russia. If this sounds dull (it would have done to me) then don't be put off. The author writes with confidence but with a light touch; the level of detail is enough to understand and the colourful yet loathsome characters of Lucan and Cardigan give plenty of colour.
The second part of the book, bizarrely, is the actual charge/trot itself, told by editing together the first-hand accounts of the survivors and told minute-by-minute. This is ok, but the survivors' accounts are very similar to each other and I was left feeling if I had read one of them and maybe two I wouldn't have had to read the rest. Unlike, say, Waterloo, every man involved was on the same part of the field and experienced very similar things. I was also left slightly puzzled to be only halfway through the book with the main event already over.
The third part is a description of life for the cavalry after the charge and again for a novice like myself this was very interesting - although quite distressing if you have any love for horses (or humans, I suppose).
The final part of the book is devoted to a series of `controversies'. The most interesting is who was to blame (read it for yourself - I disagreed). Other `controversies' include whether Florence Nightingale was a better nurse than Mary Seacole, who sounded the charge, and murder. In other words it feels a lot like either self-indulgence on the part of the author or space-filling.
The maps were generally clear and helpful. Set against this I was really irritated by the title "Hell Riders" and the persistence with which the term "hell" was used, not because I am prudish or think it is blasphemous, but because the casualty rate really doesn't justify it. The pictures were fairly interesting but I would have been very interested to see some modern pictures of the ground. (There are one or two on the Flickr website, but nobody seems to quite know where the charge took place and it certainly looks very shallow for a valley.)
6 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Despite being off my usual period I think this book would have a great deal to offer WW1 and other military enthusiasts.
Not only is the book eloquent, fluent, clear and with a pleasing turn of wit on occasion, it is also an excellent example of how to resolve conflicting accounts of complex battles and events. Brighton makes sure that the core of his book are first hand accounts by men who participated.
He covers controversies such as who was to blame, as well as examining the genesis of Tennyson's poem, which came to dominate popular perceptions of the event - an occurence to be repeated in the Great War.
The book is reinforced by an excellent set of appendices, including a roll of the nearly 700 (rather than 600) men who participated in the Charge.
A great read and a model for popular, authoritative military research. Recommended
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
2 reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Not quite the whole Truth
2 Nov 2005
Format:Paperback
This book by Terry Brighton (TB) is well-written and would appear to be the last word on the Charge of the Light Brigade. Not so, in my opinion, as it is contemporary and follows on closely from another recent book on the same topic (The Charge - Why The Light Brigade was Lost by Mark Adkins). One should read the other book by Mark Adkins (MA) as well to get the full flavour of this dramatic event.
The MA book had a really interesting approach - once the positions of individuals or units were determined, their schematic locations were drawn onto perspective diagrams which were based on real photographs as seen by Raglan. Having determined that there were four individuals by which History will always judge to have been responsible, MA then shifts the blame onto Nolan's lap by postulating that Nolan had meant to mislead.
TB's book is an analysis of the charge as recorded by the individuals involved, another interesting approach. He debunks MA's theory as mere speculation (rightly so) but that is to do disservice to MA's book which was a well-crafted book in its own right. TB's book states that Lucan was responsible, and so the blame game goes on.
The MA book had a really interesting approach - once the positions of individuals or units were determined, their schematic locations were drawn onto perspective diagrams which were based on real photographs as seen by Raglan. Having determined that there were four individuals by which History will always judge to have been responsible, MA then shifts the blame onto Nolan's lap by postulating that Nolan had meant to mislead.
TB's book is an analysis of the charge as recorded by the individuals involved, another interesting approach. He debunks MA's theory as mere speculation (rightly so) but that is to do disservice to MA's book which was a well-crafted book in its own right. TB's book states that Lucan was responsible, and so the blame game goes on.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Life to Tennyson Poem
10 Nov 2006
Format:Paperback
I read the book simply for informational purposes. I had read and known Alfred Lord Tennyson's famous poem "The Charge of the Light Brigade"...but aside from the poem, I didn't know that much about the actual event itself. I found Brighton's book at a local bookstore and after reading a few random selections, I decided to purchase the book as I found the writing style easy to read.
This book deals with the actual events surrounding the disastrous cavalry charge led by Lord Cardigan during the Battle of Balaclava on October 25, 1854 in the Crimean War. The Brighton puts forth his opinion, but is careful to admit it is his opinion and even offers a few other conventional views on where the blame may or may not lay. Each view balanced with the pros and cons of the varying opinions.
Brighton's writing stle is easy to follow and read. I actually read through this book much faster than I had originally anticipated. Even though the subject matter only had a slight interest to me, I was taken in by the storylines surounding the events and opinions as to what actually happened and why. As an added bonus, Brighton added a short epilogue for the characters and follows a few of them into their future beyond the battle to inform the reader as to what eventually happened to many of them. This in some cases serves as a stark reminder of "how soon we forget" as many ended up in disappointing life situations later in their lives.
I would recommend this book to anyone interested in getting a sense of the event itself delivered in a very readable format.
This book deals with the actual events surrounding the disastrous cavalry charge led by Lord Cardigan during the Battle of Balaclava on October 25, 1854 in the Crimean War. The Brighton puts forth his opinion, but is careful to admit it is his opinion and even offers a few other conventional views on where the blame may or may not lay. Each view balanced with the pros and cons of the varying opinions.
Brighton's writing stle is easy to follow and read. I actually read through this book much faster than I had originally anticipated. Even though the subject matter only had a slight interest to me, I was taken in by the storylines surounding the events and opinions as to what actually happened and why. As an added bonus, Brighton added a short epilogue for the characters and follows a few of them into their future beyond the battle to inform the reader as to what eventually happened to many of them. This in some cases serves as a stark reminder of "how soon we forget" as many ended up in disappointing life situations later in their lives.
I would recommend this book to anyone interested in getting a sense of the event itself delivered in a very readable format.
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