Hill of Squandered Valour: The Battle for Spion Kop, 1900 Kindle Edition

A very interesting subject, alas, the book suffers from poor and repetitive writing. Still, a slice of history many Americans should know about.

The British Empire vs Dutch farmers at the turn of the 20th century. And the farmers gave the empire a struggle

This is a well written and very informative book. The details of the British disaster that was the Boer War are fascinating and fully explained by an author who has an admirable knowledge of British military history. The failure of the British officers in command of the brave soldiers who fought in South Africa are fully detailed in this chilling narrative. The dismay of Winston Churchill at the squalid new way of warfare which evolved in South Africa presents an insight into the events which shaped his subsequent leadership of Great Britain during the Second World War. The great shame is that those general officers failed to fully learn the lessons taught by the Krupp guns and Mauser rifles of the Boers until the end of the First World War.

I had hoped for a new focus on a fascinating battle. What I got was a pro-Boer account of the war to that point and a three chapter summary of Spion Kop, with nothing I did not already know from reading Pakenham's "The Boer War". The book is not badly written, but could do with fewer snide comments and more cogent analysis.

Very readable document discribing one of the first modern long range smokless power conflicts. A forshadowing of the Great War. Death from afar.

I had the great privilege of interviewing the last living participant of the Boer War, who as at Spion Kop with Denys Reitz, when he was 14 years old. Pieter Krueler's first hand account from his viewpoint, and my subsequent research over the last 25 years coincide with the events in this book. One of my former students and current author, Robert Daniels, did his research paper on Spion Kop, a great paper indeed. This biography of Krueler (see short interview with Krueler published in Military History February 2003) may be out next year. Spion Kop is mentioned in horrifying detail.Some of these reviewers have nailed it; Churchill was appalled at the lack of determination, hubris and abandonment of logic on the part of the British forces. However, the Pyrrhic victory the Boers achieved, while forshadowing the next great conflict, the Great War (fought in Africa by Krueler also) seemed to have been lessons learned by the Germans, and forgotten by the British. This book is very good at outlining the measures leading up to, during and following the battle. The men who survivied Spion Kop would be the founders of a united South Africa.The horrors of Spion Kop, and the war in general, was the great leveler assisting the Boers and British to set aside their differences, much like Gettysburg and Antietam bringing the horrors home during the American Civil War. Forner adversaries reflected upon their wat, and this battle, and joined forces to forged the Union of South Africa as an independent nation in 1910. Lessons to be learned even today. Worthy of the 5 stars.

I have had the privilege of walking the Spioenkop battlefield several times. It must rank as one of the most visually spectacular battlefields in the world. To improve the experience I've also done a fair amount of reading on the battle, including Winston Churchill's account, Arthur Conan Doyle's account, etc. I can say without hesitation, however, that this book is far and away the best resource to date in getting to grips with this fascinating and tragic battle. Not only is it informative, the book is very well crafted, and is as easy to read as a good novel (without, in the process, losing any credibility). This is a great book - buy it!

I used this book for a research paper. Found it thorough, captivating, and engaging. On a battle (and war for that matter) where there is not much written it is definetly a breath of fresh air.

Could be subtitled, "book of squandered opportunity!!"This is offered as a definitive and specific account of the Battle of Spion Kop and as such will appeal to the advanced reader--Boer War buffs ,War Gamers, and Medal collectors who already have a shelf of books on the Boer War, and I am sick of books on specific topics taking 12 chapters to get to the point--we know this nor are we interested in what is happening in Ladysmith since the declaration of war. The book is well researched and authoritative, with the author obviously having so much to say!!.The illustrations also miss the point we don't need Buller, Ghandi Churchill, in every book,lets have the officers on the hill-Group photo of Thorneycrofts mounted infantry excellent, but no names for officers other than Col Thorneycroft. Similar named for eg. Lancashire regiments, KRRC, Scottish Rifles , ILI ,Royal Engineers etc. Sadly missing is a Roll of Honour for those killed and wounded, as in the excellent photo of the trench on the hilltop. Again what became of the gallant officers and men involved at regimental level, what honours were awarded-DSO, DCM, and promotions to complete the story of a "hard fought and gallant disaster!" A Detailed Book on Spion Kop is much needed but sadly this is not it.

This book takes so long to get to the battle that you think you have misread the title.Having read Ron Locks books I was expecting some new information ,but instead got a re-hash of all the standard books on this subject.There are many better accounts available.

Fine , and even handed, review of the campaign and givens a real sense of the British missed opportunity in failing to go to the west of Spion Kop in order to reach Ladysmith

Excellent read

This is possibly the worst military history book I have ever read. The only good thing about it is the title - which given the quality of the writing - was possibly the editor's idea.There are 219 pages of narrative but only 44 deal with the Battle of Spion Kop.Furthermore, the sequencing of the book is a mystery. It describes the battles up to and including Colenso and then backtracks to describe the careers of Buller and Warren.I suspect that this is a piece of "Vanity Press" at its worst.