This is of course the second half of the letters of William Russell, the Times correspondent, on the Crimea War. The book, which covers the period after the death of Lord Raglan to the evacuation, is not quite as interesting as the first volume. That reflects more the comparative lack of action during the period in question rather than any failure by the author. There are however a number of interesting discussions of various issues including the current, at that time, debate on the possible abolition of promotion by purchase and preparations for the evacuation. What is clear is that the peace agreement was a good result for the Russians. The Allies had had enough by then and were pleased to be rid of the war. Russell laments the missed opportunities during the war for inflicting heavy defeats on the Russians, his views obviously coming from conversations with senior officers. Overall a good book if only for clearly illustrating the poor quality of the British Army high command of the time.
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