The Boer War

By: Martin Bossenbroek

Narrated by: James Langton

Length: 19 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's summary

The Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902) is one of the most intriguing conflicts of modern history. It has been labeled many things: the first media war, a precursor of the First and Second World Wars, the originator of apartheid. The difference in status and resources between the superpower Great Britain and two insignificant Boer republics in southern Africa was enormous. But, against all expectation, it took the British every effort and a huge sum of money to win the war, not least by unleashing a campaign of systematic terror against the civilian population.

In The Boer War, winner of the Netherland's 2013 Libris History Prize and shortlisted for the 2013 AKO Literature Prize, the author brings a completely new perspective to this chapter of South African history, critically examining the involvement of the Netherlands in the war. Furthermore, unlike other accounts, Martin Bossenbroek explores the war primarily through the experiences of three men uniquely active during the bloody conflict. They are Willem Leyds, the Dutch lawyer who was to become South African Republic state secretary and eventual European envoy; Winston Churchill, then a British war reporter; and Deneys Reitz, a young Boer commando. The vivid and engaging experiences of these three men enables a more personal and nuanced story of the war to be told, and, at the same time, offers a fresh approach to a conflict that shaped the nation-state of South Africa.

©2012 Martin Bossenbroeck (P)2017 Recorded Books

Excellent

This book educates the rider about a forgotten war with huge ramifications on the Twentieth Century.

Interest history, Way to long

As another reviewer said this book is too long. It could’ve been condensed by about 80%. There is no character development and it is rambling and confusing. I recommend starting at chapter 14 and skipping the intro. There is nothing to be gained by the first 14 chapters. Don’t worry about what you’d be missing by skipping forward. You would be missing nothing. I will say the history about Churchhill was interesting. I now know way too much about the Boer war.

Great chronology and history

This is an excellent book going back a few decades before the Boer war and then spending about 60% of the book on the actual conflict. There’s a lot of historical figures covered in this book, so many of them don’t get a lot of development, but that’s OK. I would say my only complaint with the book, is that some of the transitions seem to be a little bit abrupt and I had to go back to see what has actually changed, or with a new topic was. But I highly recommend it.

Could have been condensed

The first third of the book could have been summarized. There was a lot of unnecessary information about building railroads prior to the war. I could’ve done a brief summary of some of the factors leading up to the war but I didn’t need an in-depth dive.

Unique Time in History

Parts were extremely interesting. Plus full of actual history from that time period. I found that I do not like the Boer,s nor their reason for fighting. One can see how apartheid developed from that society. Glad I read the book. Excellent narrator.

Great detail on a very little know war.

good book, great detail from multiple view points, leant a great deal of European politics of the period, would love to read more about 19th century European and Afican history after listening to this.

Excellent overview of the Boer War

First of all, I thought the book was very well narrated. I felt that this book did a good job of explaining the players involved in the Boer War, what led up to the war and the repercussions that were felt by self Africans for generations afterwards. I would highly recommend this book.

An excellent history on a relevant subject

The narrator was excellent. Accurate and well-researched writing. Highly recommend. Fifteen word minimums suck.

Interwoven personal histories

This is read beautifully, by the way. The author has chosen to follow a few individuals personal accounts of the war as the main threads through the history. This has the advantage of giving a strong sense of what the war was like for ordinary soldiers and civil servants. It makes the experience more personal. If he could have secured or added more of these, perhaps one civilian in the camps, and one black warrior it would have rounded the concept out. I think it was the right path but just needed the addition of two or more diary-based accounts. The suffering of the civilians, black and white, in this war is the bulk of this tragedy, but takes up a fraction of the tale.

Best Anglo-War book by far!

This is probably the best book I have listened/read on the Anglo-Boer War by far.

Martin Bossenbroek has combined his narrative from 4 sources, all of whom kept meticulous diaries and letters that allows the listener/reader to see the story from the eyes of 4 people: Willem Leyds, Winston Churchill, Sol Platjie and Denys Reitz.

I removed a star from the narrator, because of some of the pronunciation of words, and I needed to relisten to those pronunciations a few times to have clarity on whom or what town he was referring to. Other than that the narrator did an excellent job.

Thank you to the author for such a well put together book. I have actually read or listened to the original accounts of Churchill and Reitz, so it was refreshing to hear the perspectives of Leyds and Platjie too, and I loved how you combined them!