This was a fascinating glimpse into what it was like to live in the Falklands during the dispute/war. The book is written in journal form so there's a combination of local activities mixed in with the movements the Argentinians are making and how the Islanders perceive these movements. It's very matter-of-fact so it can be dry in places but still gives a good understanding of how the residents were feeling at the time and how they survived. Recommended for history buffs who want a little more local flavor in their reads.

A Falkland Islander’s Wartime Journal is a fascinating insight into what it was like to live there in 1982 during the occupation by Argentina. Graham Bound worked for the local newspaper at the time so his daily diary entries were personal, but also interested in capturing what was going on from a journalist’s point of view. The book captures the tension on the island before the invasion, during the occupation and post-war. The author describes the Falklands as a forgotten colony and you really do come to understand just how desolate and alone the citizens were. As Bound describes how humiliating and worrying it is to live this way, the reader can’t help but relate these feelings to the people of the Ukraine who are experiencing the same thing on a much larger scale. Feeling like a political pawn, forgotten, repressed – this book captures a fascinating event in history and is sadly still relatable. I recommend.

Forty years ago I was barely a teenager when the Falklands’ War broke out. The conflict was my first experience of my country being at war with another nation, and I followed events avidly even though the theatre of war felt impossibly distant and remote.
The author of this excellent book, Graham Bound, then the editor of the sole Falkland Island newspaper based in Port Stanley, was one of few hundred inhabitants who stayed after many had fled following its occupation by Argentine forces. The journal that he wrote throughout the siege of the town forms the basis of this book, along with photographs which he took at the time.
Pretty much all of the content is unseen, and it is vivid and revealing. Graham gives a riveting day-by-day (and sometimes minute-to-minute) account of the conflict, sharing details of the islanders daily life under siege and their relationships with the Argentinian soldiers.
If you’re interested in a first-hand account of one of the major engagements of the conflict, with a wealth of accurate detail and unvarnished truth, then Graham’s book comes highly recommended.

Prewar, the Falkland Islanders saw themselves viewed as embarrassing country cousins by the UK. After the invasion, they were close family. The author wished the government’s ministers in London had been so committed to their freedom before the Argentines invaded. The Islanders didn’t trust London any more than Buenos Aires. FI passports declared the holder had no right to live or work in the UK.
The author described life under occupation: repression, humiliation, worry, lack of freedom, phones monitored, mail opened, two-way radios confiscated, their radio station taken over and switched to propaganda and Argentine music.
I visited the Islands during a cruise ship’s port-of-call in 2009. I most remember the empty, wide open spaces where battles were fought. Now, having read this book, I’d like to visit again.