Firstly, ignore all the negative comments about Ian’s work because all such comments are total nonsense. Unfortunately we live in a world where people complain and moan about anything and everything. It’s easy for those to sit behind a keyboard and criticise Ian’s work but why don’t they go and write a Zulu book if they think they know better or are experts? Ian isn’t one of those lazy authors who just sits at home searching the internet about the Zulu war, he actually travels regularly to South Africa to further his research and knowledge.
Some of the reviews on Amazon claim that Saul David’s Zulu book is better than Ian’s book, really? This is quite laughable, by way of an example in his book, Saul David, when discussing Isandlwana, highlights how Lord Chelmsford on the 22nd January, split his force but did not take a reserve supply of ammunition with him. Then during the fighting at isandlawana David is critical of quartermaster Bloomfield in respect of his distribution of ammunition but the important point that David does not mention at all, is that Bloomfield remained behind at the British camp at isandlwana and was in charge of the very reserve supplies, which Chelmsford had given clear orders to be made ready in case he (lord Chelmsford) needed them.
Ian’s book is superb, as a British person myself, you have you feel total sadness, disgust and sorrow in respect of how shameful British colonial policy was in South Africa in destroying the Zulu kingdom and should never be forgotten etc. Yet in reading Ian’s book I see modern parallels in the recent Iraq war in 2003. Were not Tony Blair and George bush both modern day versions of Sir Bartle Frere in wanting Iraq destroyed (like bartle frere wanted zulu land destroyed) behind the lies of weapons of mass destruction? The Zulu king and his Zulu people were no threat to the British and saddam Hussain was certainly no threat to the British or to the Americans.
I learned lost of new information as Ian goes into so much detail which I hadn’t come across before, for example, before the Zulu army left to confront Chelmsford, the army had various ceremonies such as vomiting and we also learn about meat being tossed in the air and Zulu warriors catching it with their mouths and sucking on the juices. We learn about after the battle of isandlwana how the whole Zulu nation was mourning with so many warriors having been killed. We learn about the great horror of what the British and lord Chelmsford saw on return to the devastated battle field at isandlawana etc.
If I was nitpicking, the book could do with some of the excellent battle diagrams that can be seen in some of Ian’s other books produced by osprey.
Ian is very good at producing Zulu testimony which is often ignored by modern authors.
It’s a wonderful book and I was slightly disappointed that I had finished reading it all, it’s simply that good.
Perhaps Ian can write a similar sort of volume(s) about the other battles of the Zulu war?
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![Zulu Rising: The Epic Story of iSandlwana and Rorke's Drift by [Ian Knight]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51BBrP9d4EL._SY346_.jpg)
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