My Amazon Review:
I wanted to give this more stars for he does an admirable job in covering with excellent detail this largely unknown campaign. The numerous maps are a plus although not all place names in the text are on the maps (or I could not locate them.) Orders of battle are apparently complete and the descriptions of the unit actions serviceable, if not very inspiring. Like many a British apologist however he slips badly in his repeated attempts to paint the 'Empire' (you know which one) in a comparatively favorable light...vis-a-vis the 'evil' Germans. He begrudgingly acknowledges the superior performance of the German officers and their outstanding aksari. But only by painting them first as heartless exploiters of native peoples, in contrast to the far more humane and enlightened world administered by the good old Empire. Given the huge discrepancy in available resources (Britain of course having complete sea control) it it little wonder that perhaps a greater percentage of native carriers died under the Germans. Yet the massive numerical advantages enjoyed by the Commonwealth troops also ensured that they used many more carriers, many of whom died. He cites the German suppression of native rebellions before the war as particularly cruel and there is little doubt they were. I am so sick of British Empire lovers and apologists condemning other colonialists (Belgian, Portuguese as well come under his strict disapproval), while smugly extolling the virtues of life for natives under the heel of the Britain. While he concludes with a few more well-aimed barbs at the savage Germans we get no sense that he has even heard of the British concentration camps in the Boer War, the Mau-Mau rebellion gulags, the bloody suppression of the Sepoy rebellion, the semi-deliberate extermination of Irish people, etc, etc. Get OFF your high-horse Englishman!