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Kitchener: "Road to Omdurman" AND "Savior of the Realm"
 
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Kitchener: "Road to Omdurman" AND "Savior of the Realm" (Paperback)

by John Pollock (Author)
4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 896 pages
  • Publisher: Robinson Publishing (17 Jan 2002)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 184119462X
  • ISBN-13: 978-1841194622
  • Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.6 x 4.2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 419,160 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Product Description
The biography of Horatio Herbert, 1st Earl of Kitchener of Khartoum (1850-1916) the victor of Omdurman and a man who, at the turn of the last century, caught the popular imagination of the people of Britain.

From the Publisher
Reviews of Kitchener
'What is refreshing about this biography is its liveliness and engagement and its understanding of how those who lived in such different times saw themselves.' The Spectator

'This book is a valuable contribution to the study not just of British power at that period, but of greatness....it is an exemplary account of an extraordinary life.' Country Life

'Kitchener by John Pollock is a superb double volume biography that will transform your view of Kitchener and the First World War.' Evening News

'John Pollack expolores the character of a man behind those familiar fetures, unravelling the enigma, and revealing his secrets.' East Anglian Daily Times --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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3 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.3 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Five star general, four star book, 4 Nov 2002
By Michael A Carragher (Dublin, Ireland) - See all my reviews
...This single volume biography comprises The Road to Omdurman and Saviour of the Nation. It is a thoroughly researched work of almost 500 pages, with over fifty pages of endnotes, and it gives a comprehensive picture of Kitchener’s life. It is most professional in its composition and its editing, hardly a misprint or vague pronoun reference to be found. Yet it doesn’t seem destined to take its place among the world’s great biographies.
Part of the book’s problem is that the reader never really comes to know Kitchener, and one suspects that Pollock did not either. In one way this may be a reflection of the remote man Kitchener was, though Pollock sympathetically explains how a naturally shy disposition, complicated by a cast in one eye, could lead to an exaggerated perception of remoteness. Kitchener was, of course, a man of his time, when the stiff upper lip was the mark of a true gentleman, especially an English one. He also destroyed much of his correspondence, casting obstacles in the way of any biographer.
Given such obstacles, and within certain other limits, Pollock does a good job in showing the humanity of Kitchener, the mutual attraction between him and children, and the enormous affection, as well as admiration, in which so many people held him. He reveals a surprising, if irregular, capacity for emotion in his subject, and even wit, as when Kitchener scathingly praises the courage of his political colleagues in declaring war against the greatest military power on earth without an army—the creation of which, of course, was his own most important contribution to world history. Coming toward the end of the book, even a sceptical reader cannot but be affected by the fate impending. It certainly seems true that had Kitchener lived, the peace of Versailles might not have been the fatally vindictive one the politicians imposed, but rather one along the lines of Vereeniging, which ended the South African War, and which Kitchener drew up largely by himself.
Yet, for all our sympathy, that remoteness between subject and reader intrudes. One gets the impression that Pollock is perhaps too much in awe of his subject: certainly he refuses to speculate, and he is very slow to criticise. That he has given his name to the John Pollock Award for Christian Biography suggests that he may bring an agenda to his work. The appendix, “Kitchener and Sex,” which dismisses the notion that Kitchener was overtly—or indeed at all—homosexual, is fair, and conveys the mores of the time, so at odds with those of our own. But the complete lack of mention of the legend that Kitchener made an inkwell of the Mahdi’s disinterred skull makes one suspect that this most unchristian story must be true.
This omission exemplifies Pollock’s arm’s-length treatment, and his refusal to intelligently explore the mental world of imperialists. Even detractors would concede Kitchener’s concern for his soldiers (so at odds with other British commanders of the time), and Pollock does a convincing job of persuading us that the stories of Dervish wounded being murdered after Omdurman are not true. All the more fascinating, therefore, the complexity that is ignored by not addressing the skull-inkwell story.
In like vein, Pollock sometimes glosses over the most remarkable details, some of which would seem to justify full chapters for their exploration—such as Kitchener’s amazement at not being given the Nobel peace prize for his “pacification” of South Africa and the Sudan. Deeper exploration of the racism of the age, evidenced by this attitude and so frightening today, could have better placed his amazement in the context of its time. Such exploration would have challenged Pollock to make his subject sympathetic, just as it would have challenged his own intellectual and writing skills, but it would have made for a better book.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A blockbuster on a blockbuster., 18 Feb 2002
This is how a biography should be. Plenty of meat and gravy, well-researched and infinitely detailed, this valuable book brings to life one of the most amazing characters of the Victorian age. Pollock is very sympathetic to his character and brings out all his strengths as well as his flaws. I was particularly impressed with his treatment of Kitchener as War Minister although I would not go as far as regarding him as the 'architect of victory'. There are some weaknesses with his literary style, but his subject comes through strong and clear, and this compensates to a certain extent. Having just finished it for the first time, I am about to embark on another journey into this extraordinary Victorian personality.
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4.0 out of 5 stars Where's the legacy?, 3 Nov 2008
By Darren O'Connell "Darren O'Connell" (Perth, WA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
I'd agree with the comments made by the previous two reviewers. It is indeed a well researched and presented compendium that sheds a lot of sympathetic light on Kitchener's character and his deeds. I did however feel that some of the blunders of the Boer War were papered over in an effort to preserve the basic heroic theme of the tome. Mind you, Pakenham's vitriol on Kitchiner's conduct during this time badly needs a rebalance, and to some extent Urban has stepped up with his materful, yet brief, expose in "Generals" but nevertheless the Boer War, and Kitchener's part in it, continues to attract extremely violent viewpoints. I digress though, the great failing of this book, in my opinion, is that it reads as a Wikipedia/Encyclopedia Britannica entry; a simple retelling of dates and events. The book ends a few days or so after his untimely and needless death. There is no in-depth analysis of Kitchener's legacy to Britain, its armies, its performance during and after the remainder of WW1, or any counterfactual speculation on what may have occurred had he survived the trip to Russia, which is a disappointment but maybe Kitchener was such a complex figure in history that such analysis is impossible? I did find a couple of typos, spelling mistakes and gramatical errors which seems to sadly represent the calibre of today's authorship but overall these sins are minor when compared to the vast amount of unknown detail Pollock has brought to the table. Overall, a highly recommended volume.
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