FAR ON THE RINGING PLAIN

by George Rodger ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 4, 1943

Rodger represented Life Magazine as photographer -- but is an Englishman. His book does not pretend to be a general coverage but wholly a personal story of the fronts he visited, the people he knew. By circuitous route, zigzagging to outrun the submarine peril, the blockade runner took him eventually to west Africa, bound, by hook or crook, for the scene of the Fighting French conflict. Once there the Camerouns and De Gaulle's Africa were still far out of reach. Eventually orders came through -- of a sort -- and, escorted by the mysterious ""Baron"", he and Novarro of The March of Time, set forth on an incredible trans-continental 3,000 mile journey by car. A mad trip -- an arrival just too late for the capitulation; then on from Kufra to Eritrea -- to find the war still on, and a chance for front line pictures (he even captured some prisoners with his camera). He witnessed the fall of an Empire -- went on to Cairo -- back to Khartoum -- and again to Cairo, en route to the Syrian campaign. Palestine, Trans- Jordan, Syria, Iran, Iraq -- eventually, India and a wind-up in the very midst of the campaign in Burma and the disastrous retreat. The text abounds in color and drama and the feel of places; much of it is relatively new; there is enough anecdote to lend human interest. With photographic illustration and numerous maps (I trust) it should prove a valuable addition to the war book shelf.

Pub Date: Jan. 4, 1943

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Macmillan

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1943

Categories: NONFICTION