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Knight, Ian : Zulu. Isandlwana and Rorke's Drift 22nd-23rd January 1879

(London: Windrow & Greene, 1992) 1872004237

ISBN 1872004237

Colour plates by Michael Chappell and Angus McBride. Large 4to (320 x 240 mm); original green boards, lettered in gilt on spine and upper cover; laminated pictorial dustwrapper; pp. 136; lavishly illustrated with maps and battle plans, contemporary photographs and artwork, and full-colour representation of the combatants' battle dress. Dustwrapper slightly curled, and a bit foxed on reverse side. Very good condition. A visually stunning book. "This book is the definitive account of how and why, in January 1879 at the remote African crag called Isandlwana, a force of nearly 1,500 British Regular and Colonial troops - experienced in African warfare, armed with modern rifles, well supplied, supported by artillery, and encamped at their leisure on ground of their own choosing - came to be annihilated by a tribal people armed very largely with spears. It also tells the extraordinary story of the successful defence, on the night of the massacre, of a tiny outpost held by just over 100 men, against the repeated assaults of some 4,000 warriors. The basic facts of Isandlwana and Rorke's Drift are fairly well known; but Ian Knight - today's leading authority on the Anglo-Zulu War - brings to his very readable account a mass of new detail. The story he tells is richly populated with remarkable characters, both heroes and villains; their personalities, previous experience, and recorded impressions go far towards explaining this most costly and shocking defeat ever inflicted on Queen Victoria's army by a native enemy - and the equally surprising survival of B Company, 2nd Battalion, 24th Regiment at Rorke's Drift."

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