Crimson Snow

November 15, 2008
Stewart ("The Savage Border: The Story of the North-West Frontier"), a journalist formerly with Reuters, takes readers to Afghanistan and the 184142 campaign by the British to seek to control that country. The British came in with a vengeanceto Kandahar in the south and to such cities as Kabul, Ghanzi, Gandamack, and Jalalabad in the north. The 16,500 troops, (4500 British and 12,000 hired militia from India) eventually holed up in Kabul and soon realized that they were in dire straits. Dost Mohammed, a ruthless politician, feared warrior, and brutal dictator who would just as easily chop a head off as get dressed in the morning, despised the British and lied, coerced, and pilfered his way to surround them. With a cast of characters that requires some serious concentration, this book should become the source for this sad chapter in the history of British imperialism. Nearly all 16,500 troops, as well as their wives and children, were cut down on the retreat out of Kabul. It is interesting to note that the wife of one of the officers was taken hostage and wrote a journal from which Stewart gleaned much firsthand information about the event. Stewart reveals an interesting, if bloody, year in the life of the British Empire in a small and still volatile corner of the world. Recommended for academic libraries and for large public libraries with collections on Afghanistan, British history, and the British Empire.James Thorsen, Madison Cty. Schs., Weaverville, NC

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