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Ian Buchanan

Ian Buchanan reviewed books on military history for ABR.

Ian Buchanan reviews 'Prisoners of War: From Gallipoli to Korea' by Patsy Adam-Smith

December 1992, no. 147 01 December 1992
The word history means many different things to different people. But generally speaking it entails an attempt by an author to explain, or make sense of, the past. That is, the historian gathers together the material, the evidence as it were, and from that draws a number of conclusions which we as readers are expected to believe. Prisoners of War, by Patsy Adam-Smith, encompassing three wars, from ... (read more)

Ian Buchanan reviews ‘Six Aces’ by Lex McAulay, ‘Laughing Gunner and Selected War Stories’ by Geoffrey C. Bingham, ‘Maverick Soldier’ by John Essex-Clark, ‘The Devils’ Garden’ by Peter Pinney, ‘Making the Legend’ by Denis Winter

September 1992, no. 144 01 September 1992
These five books are about war and are all written by veteran infantrymen (except Making the Legend), a fact which is quite relevant. The fiction is every bit as gritty as the non-fiction. There’s none of the glamour that popular thrillers attach to war, and there’s none of the abject horror that literature generally attributes to war. Instead, there is what can only be described as honesty. T ... (read more)