William Wright (17)

This part of a series known as "Battle Story", and I bought it under the impression it was an Osprey-style thing with plenty illustrations and fairly little text. The text turns out to be more extensive than you'd expect from an Osprey but the illustrations - mostly contemporary photographs - are all B&W and mostly annoyingly small, the latter in part because the entire book is quite small for a hardback.

Judged as the popular account it tries to be (rather than an Osprey wargamer's guide or an academic history) it's decent, weak on the background to the campaign but pretty good on the battle itself. Wright's sympathies are clearly with his British countrymen, but unlike some popular accounts he makes a good effort to present also the Mahdist perspective, repeatedly invoking the Sudanese historian Ismat Zulfo who interviewed Mahdist survivors long after the battle.… (més)