Rorke's Drift By Those Who Were There Volume I by Alan Baynham-Jones, Ian Knight, Lee Stevenson

Rorke's Drift is one area of history I find fantastic and when I saw Ian Knights name on the book I knew I had to read it he is one greatest Anglo-Zulu history writers there is.

The book is a welcome addition to my collection on the subject, it's a fantastic collection of never before published first-hand accounts of one of the most infamous battles in British history.

Highly recommended

This book came to me from Net Galley in return for an honest review.

“ Rorke’s Drift By Those Who We’re There” is a compilation of contemporary news articles, letters and memoirs by surviving soldiers, relatives and corespondents .in this way the authors, tell the story of the famous battle between the soldiers of the 24th Welsh Borderers Regt. And the warriors of the Zulu nation. This battle was made famous by the excellent movie “ Zulu”.
The letters and reminiscences in the book are, of course, of the language of the era, but not difficult to read. The often similar recounts give nuances and sentiments often missing in professionally written history. The drawback is that there is no narrative flow , so that a reader accustomed to a narrative history will be disappointed . I was.
Truly, this book is a repository and source book for historians but, in my opinion, not for the casual reader of history.

First-hand accounts are the best way to get a sense of place. The farther you go back in history, the more important that becomes, and the harder it becomes for a historian to find those voices. This book pulls it off, presenting accounts with flaws and all. Voices of the past can be wrong or outdated, but they're still worth hearing.

This book is specifically for those who have some background knowledge into the Anglo-Zulu War, desiring a closer look into this particular battle of Rorke’s Drift. It is not meant for general readership, but specifically for scholars or enthusiasts of late Victorian Era Britain/African Studies. The first section gives a brief overview of the event, with much of the book being a collection of primary sources. This would be very helpful for research on the British Empire or late 19th century imperialism and the scramble for Africa.

The one downside which the author and editors lament is the lack of African sources, nevertheless it is telling that they do their best to represent all sides of the event. Look into this book only if you have the requisite background knowledge of this time period, British imperialism, and a general understanding of the Anglo-Zulu War.