rorkesdriftvc.com :: View topic - Any New Anglo-Zulu War 1879 Books For 2009 ?

Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2009 6:23 pm

The following information on a forthcoming Anglo-Zulu War book is extracted from the publisher's website.

FORTHCOMING

Historical Dictionary of the Zulu Wars
Series: Historical Dictionaries of War, Revolution, and Civil Unrest #37
John Laband

List Price: $100.00

ISBN: 0-8108-6078-3
ISBN-13: 978-0-8108-6078-0
Pub Date: Jun 28, 2009
400 pages
Binding: Cloth
Availability: Not Yet Published

DESCRIPTION
Between 1838 and 1888 the recently formed Zulu kingdom in southeastern Africa was directly challenged by the incursion of Boer pioneers aggressively seeking new lands on which to set up their independent republics, by English-speaking traders and hunters establishing their neighboring colony, and by imperial Britain intervening in Zulu affairs to safeguard Britain's position as the paramount power in southern Africa. As a result, the Zulu fought to resist Boer invasion in 1838 and British invasion in 1879. The internal strains these wars caused to the fabric of Zulu society resulted in civil wars in 1840, 1856, and 1882-1884, and Zululand itself was repeatedly partitioned between the Boers and British. In 1888, the old order in Zululand attempted a final, unsuccessful uprising against recently imposed British rule.

This tangled web of invasions, civil wars, and rebellion is complex. The Historical Dictionary of the Zulu Wars unravels and elucidates Zulu history during the 50 years between the initial settler threat to the kingdom and its final dismemberment and absorption into the colonial order. A chronology, an introductory essay, a bibliography, maps, photos, and over 900 cross-referenced dictionary entries that cover the military, politics, society, economics, culture, and key players during the Zulu Wars make this an important reference for everyone from high school students to academics.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
John Laband is Professor of History at Wilfrid Laurier University and an Associate of the Laurier Centre for Military, Strategic, and Disarmament Studies.

Disclosure notice: This book is being published by Scarecrow Press of Lanham, Maryland, USA, which published my British Military Operations in Egypt and the Sudan: A Selected Bibliography last year, and will publish my AZW bibliography next year. I am not trying to shill for the publisher (especially not considering the prices of their books), but I stumbled on this information this afternoon while searching the Internet for new AZW books for my bibliography.

Cheers,
Harold Raugh

Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2009 10:38 am

Many thanks for that, Harold----definitely one for the bookshelf.
Prof. Laband, along with Ian Knight , must put in a vast amount of research to turn out such brilliant books.

Robert

Posted: Fri Jan 16, 2009 11:03 am

Harold,

I can only concur with Robert's last. Saddened at the cost, though. I suspect a library request for most on this forum.

AMB

Posted: Sun Feb 01, 2009 9:56 am

Dear Harold and Coll,

The BBC History Magazine - Feb 2009 - Vol 10 No 2

has an article by Saul David with the catchy title - 'Zulu - Revealing the dramatic hidden history of Britain's victory in the 1879 Zulu War'. Basically he says that the two movies have caused us only to only to remember Isandlwana and Rorke's Drift - Hollywood ( ???) is to blame. No credit given to the National Army Museum for the use of Charles Fripps's painting - The last of the 24th.

There is a podcast
www.bbchistorymagazine.com/podcast.asp

There is also a plug for Saul David's new Anglo-Zulu war novel - ZULU HART - published by Hodder on 5 March 2009. Just made for the romantics.............

Posted: Sun Feb 01, 2009 1:48 pm

Dear Martin,

Thank you very much for your informative message. I will definitely check out the David article from the BBC History Magazine.

I certainly share the concern of many other readers about high-priced reference books. In my limited experience (being a purchaser as well as an occasional reference book writer), publishers' greed seems to be the major factor, especially in this era of decreasing book sales (down 7% in 2008 from 2007) and increasing technology, such as "print-on-demand" books, where large quantities of books no longer need to be printed and warehoused but instead are printed only when ordered. Moreover, many institutions, such as high schools, public and university libraries, etc., have blanket standing purchase orders with reference book publishers, basically to purchase all reference books published by the respective publisher. Publishers take advantage of this by inflating prices, and the higher prices are also passed on to individual customers, like us. The only viable options I can see are:
-being adopted by Bill Gates or the Duke of Westminster;
-geting these books via interlibrary loan;
-buying these books used from search engines such as Abebooks.com.

Good reading!
Harold

Posted: Mon Feb 02, 2009 12:08 pm

Dear Harold,

I have a feeling that you have set the parameters too wide - anything you publish will be well out of date within a short period such is the selling power of AZW - that is why I suggested a website........latest JSAHR has an article by Keith Smith - Major Graves and NNC plus a review by John Laband of Soldier-Artist in Zululand by David Rattray.

Articles by PQ and RL for Durban Mercury - are really not new material - but compiled/edited as the request of the newspaper to commemorate the 130th. Incidentally RL is off to NZ to visit family if you do not get a response.

Posted: Mon Feb 02, 2009 6:31 pm

Dear Martin,

Thank you very much for your insightful comments. While the idea certainly has merit, I am firstly contractually obligated to submit a book manuscript, and secondly, I am not sure I want to spend the rest of my life making weekly or monthly updates to and maintaining such a website! There are so many other interesting topics to research and write about. I am confident this AZW bibliography, once published, will provide a viable and authoritative bibliography to provide a sound foundation for AZW studies from 1879 to 2009. So far, 293 pages completed!

I will look forward to receiving my copy of JSAHR in the next week or so and reading Keith Smith's article, a manuscript copy of which he kindly sent me a few months ago. I do not intend to include book reviews in this bibliography, and upon further reflection, I agree that Ron and Peter's piece, while well written and interesting, is too derivative and does not provide us with any new information.

Thanks again.

All the best,
Harold

Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2009 7:23 am

Harold,
Have you the two military maps housed in the RE museum together with the two housed in the Killie Campbell Library, Durban, surveyed by Anstey?
These are annotated.
Have you KCM 51091 89/9/311/13 written by Edward Durnford to Wood?
Have you Keith Smith's paper together with an Addendum subsequently published in which Keith states: " On my last visit to the Killie Campbell Library in July 2008, I examined this letter closely [the above quoted]and found some very pertinent matters which offer quite convincing evidence for the Lock and Quantrill submission." Namely that the map annotations was the work of Wood, not Henderson.And this alters the weighting considerably.
Have you Mehlokazulu's interrogation report from the RE Journal dated 2 February 1880?
All the above may well allow you to reach a different conclusion to the commonly accepted timings of the Isandlwana battle and Zulu intent.
I have taken the liberty of sending you a private message as it would be inappropriate to debate these issues that have been previously well-aired on the forum.
With best wishes,
Peter

Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2009 8:45 am

GoodDay Peter ,

Now my interest is piqued -- you did mention MAPS Smile

Whilst in Dundee for the 130th ( and at Isandlwana ) I heard a number of mumblings from certain better known guides along these lines.

Forgive my impertinence -- could you please cc me on that missive. ( wet behind the ears -- but no harm in jumping in at the deep end Smile

Once a colonial -- always a colonial Laughing

)

Chris

Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2009 10:05 am

Chris,
Regret that we are on our way to the Berg - back Sunday. Suggest you contact me on <peter>
Really do not wish to open another forum dialogue on a subject that has been well-watered.
The new and importance evidence lies in Wood have annotated the KCL maps. And that shifts the emphasis on interpretations, more specifically if read in conjunction with Mehlokazulu.
Peter

Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2009 10:06 am

That should read:
[email protected]

Posted: Mon Sep 14, 2009 1:53 pm

Ian Knight's Yesterday's Blood: The Battle of Isandlwana, 1879, is scheduled for publication by Macmillan in May 2010. Its ISBN is 1405091851; ISBN-13 is 978-1405091855.

Good reading,
Harold Raugh

Posted: Mon Sep 14, 2009 2:34 pm

Harold

Thanks for the reminder.

Books from the Zulu perspective are what I wish to pursue more of later.

Coll

Posted: Mon Sep 14, 2009 4:48 pm

You're quite welcome, Coll. Enjoy!
Cheers,
Harold

Posted: Mon Sep 14, 2009 10:24 pm

G'day gentlemen

I hope that Peter and Alan will forgive my mentioning my new book to be published at the end of this year. It is called The Wedding Feast War: The Final Tragedy of the Xhosa People and tells the story of the Ninth Cape Frontier War of 1877/78. It is, therefore, a prequel to the Zulu War and in it you will come across many names with which you are already familiar, although often in very different roles. And no, you have not read the story already - there is no published work which gives the whole picture, together with the detail of the preceding eight wars.

KIS