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The Great Anglo-Boer War cover art

The Great Anglo-Boer War

By: Byron Farwell
Narrated by: Nigel Patterson
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Summary

The Great Boer War (1899-1902) - more properly the Great Anglo-Boer War - was one of the last romantic wars, pitting a sturdy, stubborn pioneer people fighting to establish the independence of their tiny nation against the British Empire at its peak of power and self-confidence. It was fought in the barren vastness of the South African veldt, and it produced in almost equal measure extraordinary feats of personal heroism, unbelievable examples of folly and stupidity, and many incidents of humor and tragedy. 

Byron Farwell traces the war's origins, the slow mounting of the British efforts to overthrow the Afrikaners, the bungling and bickering of the British command, the remarkable series of bloody battles that almost consistently ended in victory for the Boers over the much more numerous British forces, political developments in London and Pretoria, the sieges of Ladysmith, Mafeking and Kimberley, the concentration camps into which Boer families were herded and the exhausting guerrilla warfare of the last few years when the Boer armies were finally driven from the field.  

This audiobook is a definitive history of a dramatic conflict by a master story teller and historian. Byron Farwell served as an officer in the North African and Italian campaigns in World War II and also in the Korean War. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1964, and is the author of Queen Victoria's Little Wars.

©2017 Byron Farwell (P)2019 Tantor
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History

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Very Readable History

If you're into history you'll love this, Byron Farwell, brings all the separate strands of this history together in an very listenable way, the narration is excellent. Recommended!

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highly recommended

thoroughly enjoyed. well narrated and well written. good for those with little knowledge of the conflict who want a good introduction.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Enlightening and intriguing

A wonderful historic epic of a book, really enjoyed this shines a light on imperial thinking of the time.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

super book.

l read this book some years ago. it was. worth listening to again in audio

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Excellent Book

Really enjoyed this extremely well researched book. it gives fascinating insight into the colonial days of Britain and the struggles of its subjects

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2 people found this helpful

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Well written history excellently narrated

An Informative and honest telling of this often overlooked but important war. Worth a listen !

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A good and interesting listen

This was an interesting and informative listen. There were occasions when I really wanted a map which I am sure would have been in the original book. I also think that the narrator could have had more pauses to allow the listener to digest the information better. It felt a little bit rushed. The tone was a bit monotonous and I on occasion had to rewind to digest the information. But has I got used to the style it became easier.
Overall I enjoyed the listen.

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Well researched and most interesting

What an excellent book. Well presented and researched. Interesting and enlightening. It was also well-read. However, I do have a criticism, which needs to be made, although in making it, I do not want it to detract from what is an otherwise excellent book.
The reader’s pronunciation of Afrikaans words was poor and distracting. Mispronunciations in an audible book are equivalent to misspellings and do no justice to the book. Some were so badly mispronounced that I have no idea who was being referred to. Even the word Boer was mispronounced and gratingly repeated hundreds of times. I can understand how some South Africans abandoned the book because of this, which is a great pity. I’m pleased I persevered.
Apart from this one criticism, the book was well-read, and I hope others will benefit from it as I have.

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Well Written Badly Narrated

The narrator’s pronunciation of certain words eventually got the better of me. I couldn’t carry on and stopped listening to the book.

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4 people found this helpful

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Excellent

As a fan of history, I have already read several books about Boer Wars but this one is second to none.
It's more like a good story rather than a history and a great narrator is another added value. I will definitely look for more books from this author.

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