Good-bye Dolly Gray: The Story f the Boer War

London: Cassell, 1960 Good-bye Dolly Gray - the song that evokes the distant epoch of the Boer War and such almost mythical events and figures as the Relief of Mafeking, the Battle of Spion Kop, Cover flap reads as follows: Chamberlain, Kruger, Kitchener and Rhodes; now the names of an age not so remote in time, but worlds away. in human experience. We have had to wait until the sixtieth anniversary of the outbreak" of this war for an account of it which is both readable and complete; vivid while being absolutely unbiased. Rayne Kruger sees and describes the background, the personalities, the campaigns and the lasting effects on Africa clearly and without censure. It was a war of many contrasts; in the motives behind it in the personalities of the commanders, and in their achievements as opposed to their often ill-deserved reputations. Politics, economic considerations and ethics were all at stake. To the contemporary this was no minor colonial war. The suc cession of unexpected and calamitous blows that culminated in Black Week were struck not only at the British Army but at Victorian prestige and at the complacency of an age. While the old century passed into the new, Britain's land forces were launched on the greatest war they had ever fought, for Lord Roberts's army was the largest ever to leave these shores. For the first time on a major scale, such modern refinements of war as machine -guns and barbed wire were employed. Deeply involved in the struggle were the notable figures of an age that was passing; but making their debut beside the pre-eminent Victorians were the new men, Lloyd George, Winston Churchill, Gandhi and Smuts, and with them a new age was being born. This fascinating story reveals a war 'fought with great incompetence (and heroism and generosity) on either side', and no better guide to its excitements or subtler complexities could be found than Mr. Kruger. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Until now associated with the author ship of a series of novels, Rayne Kruger's namederived from a family relation ship with the Paul Kruger who figures so prominently in this book would seem to make the Boer War a natural choice for his incursion into history. Good-bye Dolly Gray was, in fact, written because he could find no concise and unbiased book to satisfy his curiosity about the remarkable epoch to which the Boer War formed the climax. Born and educated in South Africa where he practised as a solicitor, he has lived in England ever since his return from war service in the Merchant Navy, acquiring thereby an understanding of both countries. The result is a lack of bias in handling a subject still highly controversial sixty years after the event. Kruger does not, however, hesitate to criticize. Baden-Powell does not impress him; and no country, he says, was ever gulled as much as England by Lord Roberts. Some of his suggestions, like the motive behind Jameson's epochal raid, also strike a fresh note. So does his assessment of personalities like the little-known genius De La Rey and the fantastic Kitchener. Above all, he has attempted to set an entire modern war squarely in its social and political setting and the narrative ranges from the wide spaces of the South African veld to the crowded benches of the House of Commons. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 540 pages - black-and-white photographs - previous owner's name inked neatly on flyleaf. ------------------ Orders over $100.00 are shipped using tracked courier delivery services. Size: Approx 5½ " Wide and 8½ " Tall