The Boer War

De: Martin Bossenbroek

Narrado por: James Langton

The Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902) is one of the most intriguing conflicts of modern history. It has been labeled many things: the first media war, a precursor of the First and Second World Wars, the originator of apartheid. The difference in status and resources between the superpower Great Britain and two insignificant Boer republics in southern Africa was enormous. But, against all expectation, it took the British every effort and a huge sum of money to win the war, not least by unleashing a campaign of systematic terror against the civilian population.

In The Boer War, winner of the Netherland's 2013 Libris History Prize and shortlisted for the 2013 AKO Literature Prize, the author brings a completely new perspective to this chapter of South African history, critically examining the involvement of the Netherlands in the war. Furthermore, unlike other accounts, Martin Bossenbroek explores the war primarily through the experiences of three men uniquely active during the bloody conflict. They are Willem Leyds, the Dutch lawyer who was to become South African Republic state secretary and eventual European envoy; Winston Churchill, then a British war reporter; and Deneys Reitz, a young Boer commando. The vivid and engaging experiences of these three men enables a more personal and nuanced story of the war to be told, and, at the same time, offers a fresh approach to a conflict that shaped the nation-state of South Africa.

©2012 Martin Bossenbroeck (P)2017 Recorded Books

An excellent historical record.

Very well written, but as a South African, it was at first amusing then just irritating to hear the narrator stumbling over Dutch and Afrikaans names and towns. A South African narrator would’ve made all the difference. A very good book though.

Excellent

This book educates the rider about a forgotten war with huge ramifications on the Twentieth Century.

Interest history, Way to long

As another reviewer said this book is too long. It could’ve been condensed by about 80%. There is no character development and it is rambling and confusing. I recommend starting at chapter 14 and skipping the intro. There is nothing to be gained by the first 14 chapters. Don’t worry about what you’d be missing by skipping forward. You would be missing nothing. I will say the history about Churchhill was interesting. I now know way too much about the Boer war.

Colonialism, Racism, and Militarism - everyone loses

Ok narration, enjoyed it more when I speeded it up to 1.05x. Well written, although a bit slow at the beginning (railroad building in the late 19th century can be tiresomely slow and complicated).

Author did a good job of not romanticizing a "little colonies vs. powerful empire" conflict. And bookends the history with prologue and epilogue about how modern multiracial South Africa is contextualizing their colonized history.

The Brits are racist, and do awful things to the civilian population and the land while not very competently waging war. A young Winston Churchill gets up to some amazing hijinks as a war correspondent and a soldier. Emily Hobhouse makes a ruckus about the British internment of Boer women and children in appalling conditions, and actually succeeds it getting something done about it.

The Boers are even more racist (and believe God entitles them to be so), remarkably stubborn, and make full use of their superior knowledge of the terrain and their more mobile style of battle.

People of color are used, abused, and ultimately betrayed by the British. Also occasionally slaughtered by the Boers.

Great chronology and history

This is an excellent book going back a few decades before the Boer war and then spending about 60% of the book on the actual conflict. There’s a lot of historical figures covered in this book, so many of them don’t get a lot of development, but that’s OK. I would say my only complaint with the book, is that some of the transitions seem to be a little bit abrupt and I had to go back to see what has actually changed, or with a new topic was. But I highly recommend it.

Could have been condensed

The first third of the book could have been summarized. There was a lot of unnecessary information about building railroads prior to the war. I could’ve done a brief summary of some of the factors leading up to the war but I didn’t need an in-depth dive.

Unique Time in History

Parts were extremely interesting. Plus full of actual history from that time period. I found that I do not like the Boer,s nor their reason for fighting. One can see how apartheid developed from that society. Glad I read the book. Excellent narrator.

Great detail on a very little know war.

good book, great detail from multiple view points, leant a great deal of European politics of the period, would love to read more about 19th century European and Afican history after listening to this.

An excellent history on a relevant subject

The narrator was excellent. Accurate and well-researched writing. Highly recommend. Fifteen word minimums suck.

Excellent overview of the Boer War

First of all, I thought the book was very well narrated. I felt that this book did a good job of explaining the players involved in the Boer War, what led up to the war and the repercussions that were felt by self Africans for generations afterwards. I would highly recommend this book.