Customer Reviews:
 Powerful and moving perspective of war June 24, 2008
N. Brett (Wiltshire, England)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I don't normally do 5 stars so as I try to review this book, I will try to explain what makes it (in my eyes) so special.
Written in chronological order from before the start of the Falklands War this is a number of eye witness accounts so the perspective varies. This perspective is balanced with civilians and Argentines so all aspects of the conflict are presented.
I had a view of the Falklands war and specifically of the sinking of the Belgrano and I have to admit that I have changed my view upon reading this. I also learnt a great deal that I was not expecting to. Our politicians do not come out of this well (John Nott going to tell the Falkland Islanders that Britain would not come to their rescue if there was a problem - and there were Argentine officers in the room who would have taken the message straight back home) nor does Admiral Sandy Woodward who seems to have made some very poor decisions at the sharp end.
An emotional book too - the sailor who describes how he was blinded for life, the Islanders kept locked up for days, the Argentine conscript not understanding where he was being sent, or why. The injuries caused from burns because we had replaced cotton shirts with fabrics that melted into and onto the skin...The loss of life from the Paras, the Argentine civvie brothers lost on the Belgrano because they stayed on board despite the fact all they did was run a crew shop - many, many sad and brave tales that made me realise what happened all those many miles away in the middle of no-where.
I would have like to have heard from some of the Special Forces that were involved, but generally a very wide ranging and balanced view is presented.
So, why five stars? Well this is a very well written and presented account of war. It made me think and change my views and feel on an emotional level about many of the people involved. Fantastic stuff.
 The Sacrificial Pawns May 26, 2008
Mikidoli (UK)
After 26 years, the Falklands war seems too familiar. Anyone with a TV in 1982 could learn the main events; I expected that a history of first-hand accounts might shed a new and interesting light. Now I cannot put the book down.
By formatting the narrative of each episode as a series of brief witness statements the author provides razor-sharp insight into the moods and attitudes of both sets of combatants. A single narrator can rarely match this sense of being there. It is fascinating to learn of the fear, the luck, the misfortune, the mistakes and the contrast between myth and reality. So long after the war, the protagonists are no longer afraid to speak honestly. For a example, an officer may have put on a brave show at the time but he admits that he had to go back to the manual.
Critics accuse the book of not being definitive, missing many other voices and ignoring too often the squaddy's view. In response, however he gathered his material, the author has ensured quality if not quantity. The words of the British officers ring with intelligence, humility, compassion and tactical awareness. We learn how much the navy banked their lives on technology and how they could lose the bet. There is an electrifying sense of both British and Argentines discovering the war as they went along. If, like me, you have not read a detailed account of the war then I recommend this. It also puts the record straight: admiral Woodward, knighted afterwards, does not come out well.
 Has some perspectives to offer, but... March 31, 2008
Withnail67 (UK)
There are a wealth of books on the Falklands, but this one claims to be the most sustained oral history available. It certainly comes with some impressive credentials, being part of the 'Forgotten Voices' series of oral histories sponsored by the Imperial War Museum, and also drawing on other archives held by Falklands civillians and the BBC.
I think this august comapny is part of the problem. The two World Wars are gradually turning into history, and recollections come to us over the distance of at least sixty years. The Falklands, for all the restrictions of the time, was comprehensively chronicled by print, radio, film and television. Retrospectives of the conflict have taken place as recently as 1992 and 2002. Publishing has served a constant stream of accounts and memoirs over the last 26 years.
This is a worthy book, well-edited and comprehensive. The civilian experience and the Argentine perspectives are given respectful room, but the British military stories dominate, as one might expect. Oral history has to be taken with a pinch of salt, as well-publicised accounts interact and achieve a life of their own. This is not to detract from the accounts here which are in many cases vivid and chilling testimony to modern warfare: just a reminder that history is an imperfect human activity like any other.
This is a sizeable and comprehensive oral history of the Falklands war edited with sensitivity by a distinguished veteran. For a clear, objective account of the fighting and the diplomatic context, there are other books available. The major flaw with it is the label 'forgotten'; there's not enough new material to warrant the description. What's here is familiar, but no less moving for that.
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