Forty-one years in India

I agree with the excellent review. The level of detail about the mutiny is overwhelming while the book is still readable and exciting, if you're interested in the history or culture.

First of all, this is not a novel or fiction. The author describes his career from his arrival in India as a subaltern military officer to the chief of the Royal British army in India. During the 41 years the author describes, he always shares his own opinion (of coure from a point of view as a chief commander with a lot of experience, so that sometimes his very early ideas as a young officer seem at first a bit exaggerated) to any affair of government and military he comes into touch with. Though this is sometimes a bit lengthy it nonetheless helps to keep track of the general history in a detail one will never get through a historical overview of British colonization of India.

The parts where the author is involved into the great 'milestones' of history on the other hand is sometimes extremely thrilling. From the great Mutiny to the Afghan Wars (very interesting to understand what is happening since then in this wretched country). He has a very legible style, not too much 'honour and glory' though not without this very charme of British officers one is used to from literature, history, and movies.

For anyone who wants to understand the history of the Middle East to India, this is an entertaining but (I'm convinced mostly) true autobiography.

Topics from high politics and state affairs mingled with the private sorrows of an colonial officer away from his fatherland.