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Bezig met laden... Breaker Morant (editie 2021)door Peter FitzSimons (Auteur)
Informatie over het werkBreaker Morant door Peter FitzSimons
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 Meld je aan bij LibraryThing om erachter te komen of je dit boek goed zult vinden. Op dit moment geen Discussie gesprekken over dit boek.  Nic.DAlessandro | Aug 3, 2021 |  geen besprekingen | voeg een bespreking toe
The epic story of the Boer War and Harry 'Breaker' Morant: drover, horseman, bush poet - murderer or hero? Most Australians have heard of the Boer War and of Harry 'Breaker' Morant, a figure who rivals Ned Kelly as an archetypal Australian folk hero. But Morant was a complicated man. Born in England and immigrating to Queensland in 1883, he established a reputation as a rider, polo player and poet who submitted ballads to The Bulletin and counted Banjo Paterson as a friend. Travelling on his wits and the goodwill of others, Morant was quick to act when appeals were made for horsemen to serve in the war in South Africa. He joined up, first with the South Australian Mounted Rifles and then with a South African irregular unit, the Bushveldt Carbineers. The adventure would not go as Breaker planned. In October 1901 Lieutenant Harry Morant and two other Australians, Lieutenants Peter Handcock and George Witton, were arrested for the murder of Boer prisoners. Morant and Handcock were court-martialled and executed in February 1902 as the Boer War was in its closing stages, but the debate over their convictions continues to this day. With his masterful command of story, Peter FitzSimons takes us to the harsh landscape of southern Africa and into the bloody action of war against an unpredictable force using modern commando tactics. The truths FitzSimons uncovers about 'the Breaker' and the part he played in the Boer War are astonishing - and finally we will know if the Breaker was a hero, a cad, a scapegoat or a criminal. Geen bibliotheekbeschrijvingen gevonden. |
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 Google Books — Bezig met laden...GenresDewey Decimale Classificatie (DDC)968.048History and Geography Africa South Africa and southern AfricaLC-classificatieWaarderingGemiddelde: (3.36)
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But not this one. In fact, I stopped reading it about 2/3 the way through. That's rare for me. I usually push-on regardless.
The main subject of the book - Breaker Morant - is part of Australian folklore. A movie of the same name typifies Australian sentiment against the British 'mother country', and harks to our feelings of being used and thrown to the dogs by Britain in both world wars.
But this Breaker Morant - the one the author paints - is not what I expected. He's a theiving, selfish, self-centered, narcissistic, woman-ising, drunken, con-artist. And that's just his good points. It got to a point in the book where I just so disliked him I didn't care whether he was executed, or even whether that was 'just'. I got the impression the author grew to dislike him, too, and I think this came out in his writing.
Large swathes of the book are about the setting - the Boer war between Britain and South African republics in what is now South Africa over a century ago. My god, if ever there was history made to 'end all wars' (at that time, anyway) it would be this waste of time, money and many, many lives. Both sides were disgusting. The lowest of human base behaviour on display. And while the author paints the heroics of the Australian soldiers involved, he also details their atrocities. Truly shameful.
FitzSimon employs a unique style which combines story-telling, fiction, non-fiction, auto-biography, commentary, and narration. He would drive any traditional editor to madness I'd reckon. It's an odd mix, but I'm used to it from his other books. In this book, though, the prose became awkward and stilted in parts, and sometimes plain infuriating. Who's talking? What's happening here? The reader should not be spending time working that out. And in some chapters I was reading unnecessary detail that just didn't seem to matter. So what if the researchers found it ... why do I need to read it?
Definitely not my favourite FitzSimon's title. And I suspect it's not his, either.
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