OMDURMAN

by Philip Ziegler ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 1973

A documentary of Kitchener's march on the Sudan and his spectacular battle against the dervishes in retaliation for the murder of General Gordon. Ziegler's intent is ""to describe the battle in such a way that the reader will know something of what it was like to be there, what it felt like. . ."" rather than to offer a political or social study. But occasionally he permits himself to speculate: ""It was the last fine flourish of confident imperialism; free from the nagging pangs of conscience or irritating doubts about the ethics of a colonial enterprise."" His account reveals a nostalgic ambivalence toward the campaign and its carnage, racism, and physical hardships such as sandstorms, flies, scorpions, disease and their effects on the bearing of English gentlemen. Still he muses, ""It is ironic to consider the distaste, even disgust with which Gordon himself would have observed the exultation of his countrymen"" in their glee after slaughtering the dervish hordes. The major events of the battle are chronicled: the bombardment of the Mahdi's tomb, the dervish assault, the near loss of the camel corps, the charge of the 21st Lancers, and MacDonald's stand. It is an indulgence in Victorian yore modified by a post-Victorian conscience.

Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1973

ISBN: 0850529948

Page Count: -

Publisher: Knopf

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1973

Categories: NONFICTION