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Chargement... La charge de la Brigade légère (1953)par Cecil Woodham-Smith
Chargement...
Inscrivez-vous à LibraryThing pour découvrir si vous aimerez ce livre Actuellement, il n'y a pas de discussions au sujet de ce livre. So this is narrative history. The emphasis is on the former rather than the latter: there is no pretension of neutrality (only a sort of assumed common decency, of which the author is of course a natural and self-proclaimed advocate), it is light on sources, and it avoids troubling ambiguities and questions. Instead we have a brief and rip-roaring yarn that will place the charge of the Light Brigade firmly and vividly in your historical memory. It concentrates on two protagonists, Lord Lucan and Lord Cardigan, and reduces them to something like caricatures. Perhaps they were, but I doubt it. I suspect real history is more nuanced than this blithe twentieth century critique of Britain's mid-Victorian ruling classes. But it is an accessible book, and easy to read; you don't have to agree with the author; and her assertions and conclusions are easily ignored. Indeed, they are the least valuable part of the book. One example of author bias that occurs to me to mention: she is full of praise for the Indian Army, and full of scorn for those Victorian English officers who failed to appreciate it. Fair enough. But her father was a career officer of the Indian Army, so too her brother, I think. If this book causes you to think and reflect about things outside the text it can only be a worthwhile read, and it is certainly and enjoyable one, but I do not think serious minds will return to it. I have to admit I started this book with a bad attitude, planning to skim it--it wasn't the one I wanted to read. In the end, I had to admit it was good popular history--shocking how ridiculous the guys in charge were--sound familiar? Nice to know that if nothing else, at a remove of 150 years people agree how ridiculous and disastrous leaders can be. Bonus: as a knitter, it's always fun to read about Raglans, Cardigans, and Balaclavas. aucune critique | ajouter une critique
Appartient à la série éditorialeEst en version abrégée dansReader's Digest Condensed Books, Volume V : The Reason Why - Cecil Woodham-Smith, Mr Hobbs' Holiday - Edward Streeter, East Side General - Frank G. Slaughter, The Duchess and the Smugs (Condensed from "A Wreath for the Enemy") - Pamela Frankau, The High and the Mighty - Ernest K. Ghan par Reader's Digest DistinctionsListes notables
Nothing in British campaign history has ever equalled the tragic farce that was the Charge of the Light Brigade. In this fascinating study, Cecil Woodham-Smith shows that responsibility for the fatal mismanagement of the affair rested with the Earls of Cardigan and Lucan, brothers-in-law and sworn enemies for more than thirty years. In revealing the combination of pride and obstinacy that was to prove so fatal, the author gives us a picture of a vanished world, in which heroism and military glory guaranteed an immortality impossible in a more cynical age. Aucune description trouvée dans une bibliothèque |
Discussion en coursAucunCouvertures populaires
Google Books — Chargement... GenresClassification décimale de Melvil (CDD)941.081092History and Geography Europe British Isles Historical periods of British Isles 1837- Period of Victoria and House of Windsor Victoria 1837-1901Classification de la Bibliothèque du CongrèsÉvaluationMoyenne:
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The author attributes the extravagant behavior of one or two characters to their being of Irish and Italian heritage, yet she does not attribute the behavior of the two mental deviants about whom the story is told to their being British. ( )