"Moreman's North West Frontier Book" Topic

Have any of you read Timothy Moreman's "The Army in India and the Development of Frontier Warfare, 1849-1947" link

There are a few comments at the link above and it sounds very good but at £90.00 GBP I'd like a bit more info before I buy/have it bought for me!

Thanks for any help you can give.

Considering how much is available on the web (Official reports, despatches and books), I'd be very leary of shelling out close to $150 USD for such an effort.

I hear you, Andrew, but the book does look quite interesting.

Thorfin11 -- after reading the blurb and reviews at the link you posted, I looked around at abebooks.com and eBay, and found several copies on sale at lower prices. Unfortunately, the lowest price was $113.00 USD, which is substantially less, but still a huge sum. I'd never heard of the book before your post, and it sounds very interesting, but looks like the author's academic specialty is British Imperial warfare post-WWI through the present day. Don't know about you, but I'm much more interested in the mid to late 19th Century, particularly the Second Afghan War. I think a big part of the book is tracking the "lessons learned" by the British army on the North-West Frontier and how they incorporated them into their war-fighting as the 20th Century progressed, which is very interesting, but doesn't hit the bullseye of my own personal target dead-center enough to rate spending that much money -- at least until someone I trust says it's chock full of new info re: the earlier period, &/or so well written you can't put it down, in which case… I may have to shell out the moola.

While I have London Gazette clippings and such, actually I'd love to hear about the Interwar stuff, especially Auchinleck, in detail.

Hold on guys, I have a relatively recent book on Waziristan and I think it too dealt with the InterWar years in depth.

Let me see if I can find it, check how detailed it is and then get back to you, I'm sure you'll be able to find a cheap version on Amazon/Bookfinder or…some such.

Give me a day or two…

I read this book when it first came out and found it extremely useful for wargaming, it provides everything you should know and do as a CO on the frontier. It is a well written book and worth reading.
Before buying it try a university library, if close a big city library, or inter-library loan.
If you have an interest in the NWF this should be in your library or at least read a copy from the library.

Damn interloper…just what I need, somebody telling me I have to get this book…grumble…

The whole period interests me, but my favourite is the Frontier Rising of 1897-98. I think it was Churchill's "Malakand Field Force" that sparked things off for me.

That said, I have just read and really enjoyed Chenevix Trench's "Frontier Scouts" and General Skeen's "Passing it on" (also published as "Lessons in Imperial Rule"). Both of these deal more with post 1900 but are still very relevant to the earlier era.

I am currently re-reading Callwell's "Small Wars", particularly the extensive section on hill warfare. I find the tactical aspects particularly interesting, especially the daily grind of patrols & piqueting.

In other books there naturally seems to be plenty written about the larger actions but relatively little about the details of everyday skirmishes. I thought that the book mentioned in my original post might give me more of that aspect that I have enjoyed so much from the authors mentioned above.

However yes, at £90.00 GBPish it will need to be very good!