The book is well researched.

However, it has a bad flaw in that as its sub-title clearly implies,
Allen seems to think that these were "the good old days". The perspective is very pro-British and implicitly pro-empire.

For example, today, most mainstream historians agree that while the events of 1857 did not make for a "First War of Independence", neither could they be called a "Mutiny". But Mr. Allen continues, at the cusp of the 21st century to use the word "Mutiny" and incorrectly states in his introduction that to call it anything else is being "politically correct" but inaccurate.

So also, Allen selectively presents incidents, omitting egregious acts of brutality committed by the British. Most glaring is his avoidance of all mention of Frederick Henry Cooper. While the Movable Column was near Amritsar, the Deputy Commissioner of Amritsar, Frederick Henry Cooper, committed an atrocity that to this day is not mentioned by the more biased histories. (Cooper executed 282 members of the 26th BNI with no trial, because other members of the BNI had killed two British soldiers.)

Robert Montgomery, one of Lawrence's "Young Men" that Allen writes about, sent highly congratulatory letters to Cooper about this incident. So too did John Lawrence.

Allen, sadly, doesn't mention this atrocity, even though the book is filled with details on the Movable Column and its activities in/near Amritsar on the very day Cooper committed his atrocity. This severely flaws his book. While it is understandable that the nationalist histories of these events written in the 19th century avoid mention of Cooper's executions, it is simply not acceptable by the standards of scholarship of the 20th century, to slide over and ignore an incident of the scope and barbarity of Coopers.

The reality is that the Lawrence brothers and their "Young Men" were proto-Nazis, ruling native Indians through force and terror. Rather than comment on this aspect of the young men, Allen seeks to convey that these men were larger than life and "heroic".

The book is well researched.

However, it has a bad flaw in that as its sub-title clearly implies,
Allen seems to think that these were "the good old days". The perspective is very pro-British and implicitly pro-empire.

Hence most historians agree that while the events of 1857 did not make for a "First War of Independence", neither could they be called a "Mutiny". But Mr. Allen continues, at the cusp of the 21st century to use the word "Mutiny".

So also, Allen selectively presents incidents, omitting egregious acts of brutality committed by the British. Most glaring is his avoidance of all mention of Frederick Henry Cooper. While the Movable Column was in Amritsar, the Deputy Commissioner of Amritsar, Frederick Henry Cooper, committed an atrocity that to this day is not mentioned by the more biased histories. (Cooper executed 282 members of the 26th BNI with no trial, because other members of the BNI had killed two British soldiers.)

Robert Montgomery, one of Lawrence's "Young Men" that Allen writes about, sent highly congratulatory letters to Cooper about this incident. So too did John Lawrence.

Allen, sadly, doesn't mention this atrocity, even though the book is filled with details on the Movable Column and its activities in/near Amritsar on the very day Cooper committed his atrocity. This severely flaws his book. While it is understandable that the nationalist histories of these events written in the 19th century avoid mention of Cooper's executions, it is simply not acceptable by the standards of scholarship of the 20th century, to slide over and ignore an incident of the scope and barbarity of Coopers.

The reality is that the Lawrence brothers and their "Young Men" were proto-Nazis, ruling native Indians through force and terror. Rather than comment on this aspect of the young men, Allen seeks to convey that these men were larger than life and "heroic".

This book is a good description of Indian history from about 1830 to 1857 culminating in the Indian Mutiny.

It is about the men who commanded the NW Indian territories on behalf of the East India Company and principally about one hero called John Nicholson. Despite the subtitle, this book is a great deal more than short biographic narratives about the men. It is the seam of their environment that provides half the interest consisting of geographical descriptions, the attitudes of Indians and how the British and "Indians" conducted their business.

There are some gripping accounts of bloody battles on horseback, with bits being chopped off and we can see that films like Gladiator are the tip of the iceberg when it came to hand to hand horseback combat before the 20th century. The men and horses were brave and some of them knew what they wanted and how to get it. This is particularly true in how the violent Pakhtun tribes in Pakistan were bought to heel. As aliens, the British succeeded in creating order (as they were neutral) between parties like Sikhs, Muslims and Hindus who could easily foment religious rivalry between themselves. The British had an art to how they brought about law and order and we can see it was no small accomplishment.

There is a certain amount of bigotry and imperialism in operation which is quite clear, but these were the days before the British became complacent and divorced themselves from Indian culture at the beginnings of the 20th century, which eventually created the independence movement that lead to partition.

Sikhs today feel left out of a homeland that was owed to them by the British. This is a book that shows how loyal Sikhs were to the British and the background to their territorial claims.

Charles Allen is a fine author and this book deserves praise. The war in it and many quotations make the book quite gripping and one hopes some people today are made of the same stuff as certain aspects of the men described - though not all of those aspects.

This book is a good description of Indian history from about 1830 to 1857 culminating in the Indian Mutiny.

It is about the men who commanded the NW Indian territories on behalf of the East India Company and principally about one hero called John Nicholson. Despite the subtitle, this book is a great deal more than short biographic narratives about the men. It is the seam of their environment that provides half the interest consisting of geographical descriptions, the attitudes of Indians and how the British and "Indians" conducted their business.

There are some gripping accounts of bloody battles on horseback, with bits being chopped off and we can see that films like Gladiator are the tip of the iceberg when it came to hand to hand horseback combat before the 20th century. The men and horses were brave and some of them knew what they wanted and how to get it. This is particularly true in how the violent Pakhtun tribes in Pakistan were bought to heel. As aliens, the British succeeded in creating order (as they were neutral) between parties like Sikhs, Muslims and Hindus who could easily foment religious rivalry between themselves. The British had an art to how they brought about law and order and we can see it was no small accomplishment.

There is a certain amount of bigotry and imperialism in operation which is quite clear, but these were the days before the British became complacent and divorced themselves from Indian culture at the beginnings of the 20th century, which eventually created the independence movement that lead to partition.

Sikhs today feel left out of a homeland that was owed to them by the British. This is a book that shows how loyal Sikhs were to the British and the background to their territorial claims.

Charles Allen is a fine author and this book deserves praise. The war in it and many quotations make the book quite gripping and one hopes some people today are made of the same stuff as certain aspects of the men described - though not all of those aspects.