Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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56 of 56 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fact is stranger than fiction, 6 May 2002
By A Customer
Having read various fictional accounts of the Indian (Sepoy) Mutiny and of 19th century India, with all the feel of "Boys Own adventure" that they tend to contain, to find that many of these things really did happen, and in a fashion that does shows that some of the fictional action did not stray overmuch from the fact, is quite startling. The Lawrence Brothers, and Henry Lawrence's "Young Men" are shown here, with warts and all, the glamour stripped off. And yet what they did, despite the petty jeaousies, and the scandals still comes through. These are not the paladins of Victorian romance, but the real men, hard to the point (sometimes beyond the point) of brutality. Arrogant, self possessed men who believed in what they did, and in many instances played fast and loose with the tribesmen of the Frontier. To judge them by modern standards is to deny their own background and the situation they found themselves in. The book also touches on the murky world of The East India (John) Company, and how these men had to act as soldiers, policemen, and politicians as they strove to protect John Company's market share.
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39 of 39 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hero-Making as History, 6 Feb 2002
In his prologue, Charles Allen lays out the approach he will take Soldier Sahibs. This is not to be read so much as a comprehensive history examining the social issues or complexities of the expansion of British rule out of India and into the North-West Frontier (now partially in Afghanistan and partially in Pakistan), but as a true-to-life "boy's adventure" story. The tale is of John Nicholson (one of Allen's forbearers) and the other Young Men who, under the guidance of Henry Lawrence, help spread the reach of the East India Company.And what a tale it is: culture clashes, petty bureaucrats, noble savages. Allen draws heavily upon the letters, diaries and reports of the principle heroes of the tale, leading to a history that is drenched in Victorian stereotypes and ideals. With this caveat in mind, however, Allen does a great job of bringing the modern reader into the world walked by Nicholson and his compatriots. The writing draws in the reader with fantastic tale after fantastic tale, starting with a brief biography of Nicholson and of the East India Company and ending with the lifting of the siege of Delhi during the Sepoy Rebellion. There are lots of vignettes highlighting life in the service of "John Company" and the British Empire and the inevitable culture clashes that occurred across the subcontinent.
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22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A detailed slice of history rendered with modern readability, 23 Oct 2000
Having recently rediscovered an interest in the North West Frontier of British India, this book proved a timely publication from my point of view. Charles Allen faithfully charts the detailed history of a fifteen year period in which a handful of extraordinary Englishmen, Irishmen and Scotsmen, extended Britain's tenuous hold over large tracts of northern India and what is now Pakistan; this aggrandisement achieved through a mixture of missionary zeal, political cunning, and a degree of personal energy and daring which almost defies belief. The picture which emerges is of nothing so much as some sort of cell of latter-day Knights Templar - warrior monks, fanatical in their service to the cause. The detailed and interwoven careers of this handful of larger than life characters are skilfully related in a gripping narrative, enlivened by a highly accessible and wryly modern turn of phrase. The story is an astonishing one, insofar as it reveals a prevailing British culture and attitude totally dedicated to duty, God and Empire, which in the 150 years since has become so alien and outmoded, that today's Britons would find it utterly and mind-bogglingly unreal. It is, nonetheless an inspiring book, in terms of charting raw human courage, achievement and endeavour - whatever the background or the propriety of the motivations as we may judge them in today's more politically correct times. Best of all, the verbatim accounts and extracts paint a brilliantly vivid and technicolor picture of the nature of the extraordinary Pathan tribes who still populate this wild frontier. Again, almost unbelievable in their endless propensity for making war and plotting treachery. The very worst and most savage of enemies, and the most illogically loyal and truest of friends. Strangely fascinating to the British warrior-monks who interacted with them, the Pathan represented the complete antithesis of all their Christian, civilising beliefs. And yet many of this select group developed a quite profound degree of respect and, it seems to me, affection, for their most worthy and ferocious opponents.
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