Another present for my recent birthday was this splendid book. Basically its a compilation of the letters of Captain George Barlow from the time of his joining the army as a teenager until his untimely death at the age of 33 from disease in India.
The book is a fascinating record of his career, the battles he fought in together with an extraordinary insight into his life and times. The descriptions of the battles are very interesting and invaluable to students of these actions. When reading this type of book it never ceases to amaze me how fundamentally like us the people of history were despite the huge differences in the worlds we inhabit. I get the same message when reading Mercers Journal of Waterloo. The same concerns over money, careers, relationships, health, appreciation of a good meal and the presence of poverty and things foreign. I guess it demonstrates that people have not essentially changed through the ages, its just that we think they should have, or at least I do. That said, some attitudes have certainly changed and how Barlow coped with two most dreadful wounds is not at all like it would be today. Quite how he even survived such wounds in those days is remarkable let alone that after each he resumed his military career as if nothing had ever happened.
A really good book in every sense.
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