Annual Booklist 2020 : Ewan Carmichael
Major General Ewan Carmichael CBE retired from the British Army in 2015, having served in Ulster, the Balkans, and the Gulf before completing his career as Director General Army Medical Services. He assumed the Chairmanship of the Society of Army Historical Research in 2020, and is currently engaged in researching the British Army’s campaigns in Germany during the Seven Years War.
The Putney Debates. No particular author, but any verbatim record of the debates. There is a tendency to assume that today’s thinking must have evolved to a pitch of sophistication. The Putney Debates prove that soldiers of our early army were capable of profound thought and of articulating it both elegantly and powerfully.
The Wipers Times. I challenge anyone not to be moved by the pathos of the gentle humour shown in the face of adversity.
The Journal of Corporal William Todd 1745-1762, ed. A. Cormack and A. Jones. Vivid descriptions of 18th Century soldiering.
Washington and Caesar, by C. Cameron. A novel about a slave of George Washington, who escapes to join the Ethiopian Regiment. A very moving study of leadership.
George MacDonald Fraser’s ‘McAuslan’ trilogy ('The General Danced at Dawn'; ‘McAuslan in the Rough'; 'The Sheikh and the Dustbin'; available in omnibus as The Complete McAuslan). Half fact, half fiction. MacDonald Fraser captures battalion life beautifully. Not to be read on public transport without embarrassment, as the reader will veer from laughing out loud, to tears, and back to chuckling again. Of all my recommendations, this would be my highest priority if I knew that I would be snowed-in.
Rather than highlight an area ripe for research, I’ll take the liberty of recommending a sixth ‘read’: The Great Game, by P. Hopkirk. The next time you are fuming because your neighbourhood nailbar has been closed due to COVID-19, or because the supermarket has run out of your favourite beard-oil, turn to The Great Game for a dose of exemplary self-reliance and initiative.