Kitchener: Architect of Victory, Artisan of Peace - Softcover

Pollock, John

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0786710012 ISBN 13: 9780786710010

Publisher: Carroll & Graf, 2002

Synopsis

With access to the private papers of the heroic Kitchener of Khartoum—victor of the Battle of Omdurman and avenger of the disastrously massacred General Gordon—this definitive biography, including 32 pages of black-and-white photographs, charts the illustrious, and sometimes infamous, career of the man who fought his last battles in the corridors of international power during World War I. It also finds beyond the formidable public figure a shy, reserved Christian man capable of great compassion and humanitarian vision. “An engaging narrative that brings the colorful, late-Victorian military and political world vividly to life.”—Kirkus Reviews “Pollock describes this amazing career with talent and passion. His book is well-written, lively, thoroughly researched....”—Financial Times

About this title

From Publishers Weekly:

Best known as the brutal muscle behind Britain's late 19th-century participation in the "Scramble for Africa," whereby European powers vied with one another to divide the continent, Kitchener (1850-1916) and his tactics--which included concentration camps and massive scorched-earth policies in the Sudan and during the Boer War--have not fared so well over time. British biographer Pollock (Wilberforce; etc.) uses a trove of family papers, the Royal Archives, contemporary letters and other accounts to rehabilitate his subject painstakingly, painting the victory at Sudan's Omdurman (1898), the peace settlement with the Boers in South Africa (1902), the reform of the Indian Army and other conquests as rightly making him Britain's most respected general at the start of WWI. Pollock shows Kitchener predicting the costly length of the war and remarking that only an impartial peace conference would avoid future war in Europe. Kitchener drowned in June 1916 when a British cruiser struck a German mine and sank en route to Russia, so his participation was cut short. Pollock uses his sources adroitly to bring to life the personal strengths and weaknesses of Britain's then-most-admired general, which is this book's main contribution. Illustrations not seen by PW. (Mar.)Forecast: The first third of this near-hagiography was published in the U.K. in 1998, and was extensively reviewed. This expanded, simultaneous publication may generate further interest across the pond, but few beyond buffs and specialists will seek it out over here. Nevertheless, it is the only Kitchener biography currently in print in the U.S., and its extensive primary research may contribute to library sales.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist:

In the pantheon of heroes of the British Empire, Herbert Kitchener has been one of the more revered. His military accomplishments include the reconquest of the Sudan, the staving off of disaster and eventual victory in the Boer War, and the development of a "successful" strategy for British forces during World War I. In addition, Kitchener, a deeply devout man, was viewed as the ideal Christian warrior by proponents of "muscular Christianity." Yet, a true understanding of his personality has always seemed just out of reach, partially due to Kitchener's shyness and reserve (or aloofness and arrogance). Pollack, a biographer who has previously written lives of other imperial icons, penetrates the stern, unflappable mask Kitchener presented to the public. Pollack is an unabashed admirer, and his efforts to gloss over Kitchener's occasional wartime brutalities do not ring true. Still, he makes a convincing case that Kitchener was a man of surprising warmth and compassion with an unusual appreciation of the limits of military force in solving social conflicts. Jay Freeman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About this edition

• Publisher: Carroll & Graf
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0786710012
• ISBN 13: 9780786710010
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 608