George MacDonald Fraser Books

I find it amazing that Fraser can constantly deliver such a perfectly balanced combination of historical and romantic fiction. This is the fourth installment of the Flashman's adventures, but I found it to be the most intriguing, especially since it meticulously describes the start of the Crimean war and the battles of Alma and Balaclava with such cynicism. Consider the possibility that a pointless mistake in the communication of an order down the chain of command, combined with overzealous hand-waving by a messenger lead to the disastrous charge of the Light Brigade. Throw in with this some description of Russian countryside and daily life during the latter half 19th century: the horrid plight of the serf in stark comparison to the lavish existence of the noble caste. Mix it all up with the imperialist expansion of the Russian empire into Central Asia and you end up with a perfect recipe for epic historical fiction. However this would not be one of the famous Flashy files if it did not have equally interesting romantic encounters, troika chases through the snowy countryside, and suicidal missions to raid a Russian fort with Kirgiz rebels. To think that all this history, action and adventure occurs in a mere 300 pages is simply to good to be true. A truly great story-teller, Fraser has won me over and I can't wait to pick up the next chapter in his ruffian's adventures.

ROFL, LMAO funny fiction in a semi-plausible historical settings. Defames many of the figures you yawned over in World History back in 9th grade. Flash is a real man's man. Read the books, preferably in order.

Given that my introduction to the Flashmen series almost coincided with the tragic (although not unexpected) death of George Macdonald Frasier I have made it my news years resolution to let people know about his wonderful books.

They wouldn't be good without the main character Sir Harry Flashman VC; who without ever really meaning to became the most highly decorated solider of the Victorian Era. This is all of course just a byproduct of his attempts to save his own worthless hide, with the reader cheering him all the while. They are also outstanding in their great attention to historical accuracy backed up with a large amount of footnotes.

This particular installment "Flashman at the Charge" is the first purely military Flashman adventure since the first book in the series and it is wonderful. Flashman (and the author) are back to true form here. Flashman of course has no intention of going to fight "The Great Russian Bear" but his idiotic lovable wife gets him appointed as a kind of Master at Arms for one of Prince Albert's German nephews. It is then decided that the boy needs battlefield seasoning for eventual command one day. So it is for to the Crimea Flashy goes for a date with the light brigade. This is only half of the story.

Overall-I think it is the best of the series everything clicks without force or effort.

In this fourth packet of the Flashman Papers, our man Flash finds himself in the thick of the Crimean War, including the Charge of the Light Brigade at Balaclava. Flash endures the regettable Lord Haw-Haw, the Earl of Cardigan, who led the Charge (although Lord Raglan deserves at least some of the blame for that fiasco). The reader is introduced to William Howard Russell, the famous Times of London who invented modern war reporting (the generals didn't like having a reporter around then either).

Harry also spends some not altogether unpleasant time in captivity in Russia - although a near encounter with the Russian knout leaves him with severe dyspepsia. Later Flash escapes, but ends up in in a Russian dungeon with Central Asian chieftain Yakub Beg and the warrior Izzat Kutebar. Rescued by Beg's people, Flashy shows some shocking signs of acting entirely honorably and contrary to his self-interest, but his odd behavior is soon explained.

If you are unfamiliar with the Flashman series, each book is a packet from the supposedly historical Flashman Papers. Flashman is a character of fictional history twice over, first in 'Tom Brown's Schooldays' published in 1857 and now in the George MacDonald Fraser's rediscovery. Fraser makes Flashman not only a cad, but also a reluctant and serial war hero. If you ever start to think Flashman has turned over a new leaf, just keep reading. If this kind of thing interests you I do suggest that you start with the first book in the series, 'Flashman', although each book stands on its own.

The Flashman series weave historical detail together with spell-binding stories told with frequent hilarity. Highly recommended for fans of British historical fiction or a good ribald tale of any kind.

After reading "Flash for Freedom," with its nauseous blatant racism expressed through Flashman's perspective, I began to wonder why I was drawn to the series. Even in the Spanish picaresque novels, rogues tend to mature in their skullduggery. But I already had "Flashman at the Charge" in the exercycle pile, so I plunged in. I'm glad I did. This is the most successful episode yet, in terms of skillful plotting and literary devlopment. Why, it's so well written that I'm sure some Flash fanciers will be disappointed. It also spews most of Flashman's bile on Russians and British army officers, two subspecies of Homo sapiens that I have no investment in. The big surprise, however, is that our Harry at last seems to be affected by experience. Several times in the book, he reveals admiration for the noble and contempt for the ignoble. He actually admits to feeling an emotion close to friendship for two other men and honest intimidation in the face of a powerful woman. And he acknowledges sympathy, sneeringly of course, for the suffering of others! What's all this coming to? Is Flashman gonna yield to the temptation to do something honorable!?! I guess I'll have to read the next book to find out.

This is not your so called war stories. It is about a man and the men he served with without any liberal gibberish (see his references to more modern times)and the fact that wars happen and will happen, just or unjust depending on one's views. But, they won't go away like some Utopian dreamers think just because other "Utopians" weren't up to it. There were so many pages that hit me in the gut because one could so readily identify with things on the page. I never expected such a great book from a journalist / media person which proves that there is good in every crowd. I salute Fraser and I wish I could tell him so in person.

GMF has outdone himself with this book about his part in the Horrific war in Burma during War II. He tells of his time as a junior enlist then junior NCO with the Border Regiment. He spins his tale extremely well about the story of the last great War fought by the Old Anglo-Indian Army of the Raj. So if you want to get a feel for a bygone Army, its various & exotic troops, weapons and some great characters like the Iron Duke and the Impressive FM Slim then this is the place for you.

I read this entire book with a smile on my face, punctuated by frequent outbursts of laughter. George MacDonald Fraser's memories of his WWII service with the British Commonwealth Army in the Burma campaign was the first of his non-Flashman works I've read. Although it's impossible to really compare two completely different literary genres, I'll just say that "Quartered Safe Out Here" was-in its own unique way- as hilarious, if not more so, than the best of the Flashman novels. The difference is that in the Flashman novels, Fraser's obvious respect for the sacrifices and achievements of the British soldier had to be viewed as a backdrop to the foreground humor while the opposite is true in this work, where the humor plays a supporting role to his tribute, which is explicit.

Unlike his Flashman creation, Fraser was an honest-to-goodness war hero- courageous, honorable, and immensely proud of his country, regiment and platoon section. Like old Flashie though, Fraser cuts through the B.S. and shows no tolerance for armchair generals, civilian second guessing, and the nattering classes' politically correct sympathizing for Britain's enemies, so long as they were black, brown or yellow. It was amusing how Fraser's account of his argument with a bleeding-heart over the atomic bombing of Japan exactly echoes Flashman's dustup with a supercilious academic at the beginning of "Flashman and the Redskins". The alert reader will notice other such episodes in this memoir that seem to have found life in that series, but as Fraser noted, sometimes real life in Burma was so bizarre that he would have been laughed out of town if he had tried to slip some of those stories or dialogue into his fictional novels or screenplays. That's why I'm glad he finally got around to writing this book. It would have been a real shame if this story had not been told.

Fraser details his time as a 19 year old soldier in Burma during the last months of the war. His writing is brilliant, as usual, his stories engrossing, his attention to detail is fascinating, and the characters we meet, from the lovably obscene Cumbrians to the unbelievable Captain Grief, are unforgettable, the more so for being real. Apart from the entertainment value, which is considerable, Fraser's insights into the nature of war and the warrior are poignant and valuable as a historical record of, and paean to, a lost Britain. He bemoans the fact that that Britain (not to mention America) has been replaced by a therapeutic society of hypersensitive p.c. twits who have been severed from the warrior tradition and stoic ethos which made their existence possible in the first place. As with most of Fraser's books, it's not for someone who thinks that the world has improved much in the last 50 years. What else is there to say? This is simply a great book. Read it and love it.

This book had been brought to my attention by the author John McKinna ("The Sen-Toku Raid" and others) when it was learned we both had been combat infantry. And a great recommendation it was. The name of the book was taken from a Rudyard Kipling phrase in "Gunga Din", and outlines the infantryman's life during the final days of WWII as the Black Cat Division pushed down the Burma road towards Rangoon.

His book is unique in that it recounts the perspective of the war-fighter on the ground, who's entire knowledge of a world conflict is about 300 yards. At one point, he described every piece of equipment on his person, a bit of historical information I found of great interest.

Interspersed with this narrative however, was Fraser's meticulous research of after action reports of the units involved to weave a mosaic for the reader that helped round out the full picture of the campaign itself.

Overall, a great read.

George MacDonald Fraser, best known for his Flashman novels, and, in my opinion, one of our best writers, gives us here his nearly fifty-year-old memories of his service in Burma in 1945.

There is so much to like about this book that it's difficult to know where to begin. There is Fraser's absolute honesty about his fears, his mistakes, his attitude toward the Japanese, and the virtues and vices of his comrades. There is his ability to place his unit's activities within the context of larger campaigns and yet give a vivid impression of what fighting with his unit must have been like. There is his brief but compelling portrait of General William Slim, for whom he has an unabashed admiration. There are moments of low humor, of heroism, and of tragic loss of life, and there is an unapologetic pride in what he, his comrades, and the rest of the British and Allied forces accomplished.

This is one of the best books that I have ever read, and I recommend that you make it one of yours.

With the exception of "Royal Flash" and two of the stories in "Flashman and the Tiger", I give all the Flashman stories 5 stars. They are that great. However, for sheer twisted brilliance of plot, I rank this one up there with "Flash for Freedom". In those two books, George MacDonald Fraser puts his protagonist through the most hilarious, yet unbelievably sadistic situations you could possibly imagine, and just when you think our (anti) hero has finally escaped the jaws of death, GMF delightfully trips him up and throws him back to the wolves. This ending of this particular novel is pure genius and would alone be worth the price of the book, even if it weren't preceded by some of the greatest historical fiction and humor ever written. Who ever thought the Indian Mutiny could be so much fun?

All of the Flashman novels have a great many things to recommend them in terms of witty asides, sardonic observation, historical accuracy,and (what would now be considered PG-13 rated) erotic escapades, but this is the most engrossing and plot driven novel of an already exceptional bunch. Flashy gets into and out of a lot of bad situations throughout his campaigns and career, but this is the first novel where I felt a personal identification with our spineless "hero" and the lengths he would go through just to come out alive on the other side of the tunnel.

Flashman novels so uniformly entertain that it's hard to single one out as the best. But the unremitting action and focused detail of "Flashman in the Great Game", set in India during the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857, might qualify it. American readers may know as little about this as they do about the Crimean War, the subject of Flashman's immediately prior adventure. But there is no better way to fill in our gaps of understanding about the British Age of Empire, than to accompany Flashman on his escapades.

Unwilling as always, Flashman is sent to India by Lord Palmerston as a secret emissary to the troublesome Queen Lakshmibai of Jhansi. Flashman is mesmerized by the beautiful and powerful queen, one of the most memorable of Flashman babes, but an assassination attempt sends him into hiding. Disguising himself as a tribesman he enlists in the colonial army, where troops are tense with rumors that they will be given taboo rifle cartridges. They revolt with horrifying violence against British cut off in remote areas with small garrisons. Flashman repeatedly escapes from a frying pan only to find himself in a hotter part of the fire. He witnesses events as synonymous with "atrocity" to the British public of the 19th century as September 11 or Beslan are to us today. Flashman escapes one incident more harrowing than the next. He never loses hope that soon he'll be able to lay low and shirk the rest of his mission, but his hopes are repeatedly dashed until he suddenly finds himself back before the intoxicating Lakshmibai, wondering, with his life on the line, if in fact she actually loves him.

Scrupulously showing colonialism's warts, Fraser depicts brutal British reprisals and suggests with postmodern egalitarianism that each side's violence somehow offsets the other. But in my old-fashioned, post-9/11 opinion the savagery provoking those reprisals was far greater, with barbaric atrocities committed against women, children, surrendering soldiers and the like. Executing a rebel is not the same as hacking a child up with a sabre.

Throughout the Flashman series our antihero's cowardly and bigoted selfishness provide black humor in all manner of grim situations, yet the gravity of the Mutiny necessarily mutes that side of Fraser's writing. The unrelenting violence of this episode limit even Flashman's capacity to be a jerk; he is forced, more often than usual and despite his best intentions, to be noble. As Fraser recreates the Raj in all its glory and inequity, we sense the surreal quality of a few English soldiers controlling a subcontinent with hundreds of millions of residents, and what happens when the resulting powder keg explodes.

Midway through his memoirs of the Indian Mutiny of 1857, Harry Flashman ruminates: What beats me is the way people take it to heart -- what do they expect in war? It ain't conducted by missionaries, or chaps in Liberal clubs, snug and secure. But what amuses me most is the fashionable way views change -- why, for years after Cawnpore, any vengeance wreaked on an Indian, mutineer or not, was regarded as just vengeance. Now it's t'other way round, with eminent writers crying shame, and saying nothing justified such terrible retribution as Neill took, and we were far guiltier than the n-gg-rs has been. Why? Because we were Christians, and supposed to know better? -- and because England contains this great crowd of noisy know-alls that are forever defending our enemies' behaviour and crying out in pious horror against our own. Why our sins are always so much blacker, I can't fathom...

Sound familiar? It's exactly the sort of rant that we hear every day in reference to Iraq, and that coming from a sputtering red-faced right-winger makes me gnash my teeth. But wait? How are we to take this, coming from Flashman, by his own account the most selfish, self-centered, self-justifying scoundrel in British annals? And then, although we tend to forget, Flashman is a made-up character, a figment of his author's whimsy. Can it possibly be that Flashman's cynicism and racism express George MacDonald Fraser's own thoughts?

Flashman is the ultimate in "undependable narrators" of his own life, precisely because he maintains such a mask of candor. Is his self-mockery sincere, or another of his many poses? Was he really such a craven coward, or is he pulling our legs in some cantakerous old man's jesting? If he was really as indifferent to the suffering of others, so narcissistically lacking in empathy, then why did he suddenly choose to liberate the unknown mutineers, at the end of the book, telling them to scurry home and not get caught again? Is Flashman lying about his lies?

It's a tribute to Fraser's art that I ponder the true nature of his fantasy poltroon. This book, the fifth in the narrative, portrays the Flash as a far deeper psychological enigma than the earlier volumes, in which he was merely a comic blaggart. It's in this book that Fraser truly hits his stride as a descriptive writer, also. The depiction of mayhem and slaughter is vivid to the point of horror. Whatever the overlap between the author and his creature, this ranks as one of the most powerful anti-war novels I've ever read. Human nature is senseless slaughter, and those who release it, from whatever motives, are guilty of hellish crimes.

Harry's erotic adventures in The Great Game are less bawdy, less laughable, than in previous volumes. His tryst with the Rani of Jhansi is almost a perfumed love affair. In that way, I suppose some readers might be disappointed. Fraser's humor is spotted more stingily in this tale, also. What humor there is is rippingly funny, but the ghastliness of the Mutiny overshadows it. I have to take sides here, and declare my faith that Fraser fully intended this book as a resounding condemnation of the British Empire and its ravaging of Indian humanity. I hope I'm right. I'd hate to enjoy his writing so much if Fraser meant what Flashman says.

'Flashman in the Great Game' takes our man Flash to India just as the Great Mutiny (aka Sepoy Rebellion) was about to get under way in 1857. Flashman soon goes to ground to hide from the arch-fiend Ignatieff. The readers gets something of an insider's view of the rebellion, albeit through Harry Flashman's eyes. Harry finds himself in an unsual number of tight spots and even falls in love, well, as much as Harry can do.

Fraser is really in top form here. I've read about half the Flashman books and this one is topped only by the original.

Highest recommendation.

2001's "Quartered Safe Out Here" is George MacDonald Fraser's superbly written and moving recollection of his service wtih the British 14th Army in the Burma Theater at the close of the Second World War.

Fraser was a 19 year-old private, fresh from a "public" school education and assigned to an infantry section full of seasoned veterans in one of the most dangerous combat zones of the war. A journalist and novelist later in life, Fraser didn't get around to writing about his wartime experiences until half a century after the fact. As a result, his narrative is admittedly episodic. Fraser makes an effort to place his often vivid recollections in context provided by the official history, but this account is in no way meant to be a unit or campaign history.

Fraser is that unfortunately rare type, an infantry private with real writing skills. His section mates become living, breathing characters to the reader. His impressions of the jungle, the heat, the monsoons, and combat with the Japanese are heartbreakingly real. The respect of the 14th Army for its commander, future Field Marshal Bill Slim, shines through. Fraser's portraits of British, Indian, and Gurkha soldiers are by turns funny and awe-inspiring in capturing their stotic professionalism under conditions of boredom and terror. His observations of the attitudes and expectations of his fellow soldiers provide some pungent perspective on just how much the world has changed since 1945.

"Quartered Safe Out Here" is very highly recommended as a superbly written and brutally honest account of a forgotten theater of World War II, a reading experience for the casual reader and the student of history alike.

If you have any interest in WWII (or any military conflict), buy this book. It is one of the best, a great read, and great history. One of George MacDonald Fraser's finest works.

George McDonald Fraser always has been an excellent, although irreverent writer. This his last is also his best. I could not put this book down. I only wish we could have a book of this caliber about Vietnam.

A superb book which is not just a personal account of the 2nd World War in Burma, but also an attack on nannyism in Britain today. At times it reads along the 'it wasn't like that in my day' lines, but I found I totally agreed with all sections of this sort. It is, as you'd expect, full of hunour as well.
I fully recommend it
Roger Hunt

I happened by chance to come across this book when searching for the Flashman series, which I'm reading now. I have read many non-fiction accounts of war, from WWI to Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom. The WWII European theater of operations usually trumps the Pacific, and only in the last few years have I started to delve into this area. Recommended books are "Rising Sun" and "The Rape of Nanking".

The Burma campaign is not as well documented, and this is a welcome book to the canon.

This book, although not perhaps a classic, is incredibly diverse and true to life. The one overriding issue for me was the writing in the vernacular of the British soldiers, including Scots. For an American, it is difficult to translate what's written into coherent meaning, at times. For the most part, I was able to do so; however, there were some passages that I simply read over, not knowing exactly was said, even in context.

This, perhaps, is a minor drawback; but it does make it more real.

I highly recommend this book, particularly for lovers of true war stories.

In this latest instalment of the saga, Flashman finds himself mixed up much more closely than he would like in the First Sikh War of 1845. Duck and dive though he will, his unconscious instinct for being in the wrong place at the wrong time never deserts him, and he gets into any number of scrapes, twice escaping from the Sikh's capital at Lahore, once breaking back in under disguise, and having to show his face at two of the bloodiest battles the British ever fought in India.

There is a great deal of action of all kinds going on, and a fair amount of machination is required to get Flashman, funking and whining as usual, at the centre of each scene, whether military or romantic. With his usual mix of bluster, robust charm, luck and deviousness, he obtains his usual dollop of credit from the adventure, plus a flesh wound to impress doubters. Not quite at the top of his form in this frenetic pot-boiler, Flashman still guarantees a thoroughly good read from both the historical and the entertainment perspectives.

After reading Royal Flash and Flashman's Lady, I was beginning to think that I as over Flashy, as those books didnt move me in quite the same way the Flashman Papers and the Dragon did.

However, this tale of debauchery and adventure redeemed good ole Flashy in my eyes. Actually, I have been beginning to suspect that Flashy isnt as big a coward as he plays himself to be. His aim appears steady and his sword arm sure when ever he is in a pinch.

The only draw back is that if you are not careful to remember the meanings of all the native lingo, you'll bound to get lost.

Neither has historical fiction. Harry Flashman is both. By now you are probably joining me in wishing Harry Flashman was here today. I'd vote for him to President.

In the fourth installment of the Flashman papers, our intrepid hero is in India, helping the Empire expand into the Punjab. And yes, there are instances where Flashman does seem to demonstrate a little spine - but perhaps this is more a result of his working along side equally manipulative and underhanded schemers that Flash looks downright heroic in comparison.

As Flashman fans would expect, the history behind the story is meticulously documented. The tale is set a few years before the crown assumes control of the sub-continent from the East India Company, as India makes is greatest (but ultimately failed) attempt to drive the English out of the region by force. The history alone makes a fascinating read. With the addition of Harry Flashman's escapades to "liven up" the byzantine plotting of real -life theives, turncoats, cowards and liars you have the best Flashman book to date.

In George MacDonald Fraser's 'Flashman and the Mountain of Light', our man Flashy sees Queen Vicky holding the Koh-I-Noor diamond and flashes back to India - more precisely, the Punjab where he arrives just in time for the first Anglo Sikh War (1845-46), not to suggest that Flashman had a hand in the war or anything.

The reader meets some of the most colorful figures ever to occupy the historical stage - as Flashman says "there were some damned odd fellows about in the earlies" - many of whom have just about slipped into the obscuring mists of time before Frasser rescued them. There's the White Mughal Alexander Haughton Campbell Gardner, the Queen Mother Maharani Jeendan (ohh, what a mother!), British 'agent' George Broadfoot and more. Flashman even meets up with a couple of fellows who are bigger cowards than he - Lal Singh and Tej Singh.

Fraser also takes the reader through the war in some detail, especially the battles at Ferozeshah and Sobraon. If anything the battle scenes last too long, but that will be a matter of taste for the individual reader.

Along the way, Harry engages in some rather disturbing behavior, which other reviewers have suggested indicate a degree of bravery heretofore undetected. Bosh! While Flashy isn't always the quivering mass of jelly we have come to expect, any actions suggestive of courage are simply acts of self-preservation. And anyway, Flashy gets his just reward for such behavior in the end.

Highest Flashman recommendation.

Etienne Gerrard is a delight, cocky, self important, vain as a peacock, he is also brave to a fault, resourceful, energetic and the best swordsman in all of Napoleon's cavalry. He is also a bit thick in the head. He struts through the most hair raising adventures, and almost always comes out in one piece. You will be convinced in each story that he could not possible carry out his mission successfully, but he almost always does. At a time in Great Britain when the human costs of the Napoleanic Wars were still felt and France and England had only recently mended fences, Conan Doyles "typical" Frenchman was a delight to the British reader. This is not Sherlock's cold intellect. It is the passion of a very decent, courageous man who is devoted to his sovreign, and who will take on any task from wooing a beautiful woman to a Russian Regiment of cavalry. If you enjoy the Flashman books you will love this one just as much.

These gems of action storytelling will make you laugh out loud-- they have the best of Doyle's plotting and some very witty characterization. Etienne Gerard is first-cousin to GM Fraser's Flashman: he finds himself in the thick of every battle, often playing a pivotal role that only now can be told...

Of course, Flashy is cowardly where Gerard is brave, but they both think themselves irresistable to women and are master horsemen. Bright, fast, and funny, these short stories belong on the shelf next to all the Flashman novels. Fraser himself calls Doyle a "genius" in the introduction, and they belong in the same league of inspired storytelling. Too bad Gerard and Flashy never met-- Flash would have called him a bloody crapaud and Gerard would have said Flashy was a British beef....

I knew Arthur Conan Doyle from his Sherlock Holmes series although I have not read any title from that. The "Exploits and Adventures of Birgadier Gerard" is surely one of the finest novels about the Napoleonic era and I highly recommend it to any fan of the Grand Armee and its battle hardened soldiers. The story begins with the long retired Brigadier starting to recall his war memories for the shake of his audience, over a glass of wine. And what a fascinating carreer did he have! He was a romantic lover, a proud Frenchman, an honest man, a terrific swordsman, a dashing cavalryman, and a soldier absolutely faithful to his duty: the real epitome of the French hussar who according to Colonel Lassale "should not live beyond the age of 30"! The old Brigadier explains with graphic detail and an amusing dose of egotism and pride how he lost his ear for the love of a girl in Venice, how he helped French troops to storm the spanish fortress of Saragossa, how he saved a whole army in the Peninsula, how he extricated himself from a grevious tactical mistake in Russia, how he beat the Englishmen in their national sport of fox-hunting and how Destiny prevented him from taking part in the climactic battle of Waterloo, a fact that Gerard honestly believes that doomed Napoleon! To build his story Doyle took many interesting facts and legends from real biographies of the period, like that of Baron de Marbot, but he made his story so enjoyable and colourful that is incomperable in terms of advenures and amusement.

Brigadier Gerard is everything that a Briton of Conan Doyle's time thought was an exemplar of the Napoleonic officer - and to a certain extent a caricature of the French themselves. Hopelessly and ridiculously brave, completely lacking in appreciation of the fine British virtues of sportsmanship, a devotion to L'Empereur, rather dim, obsessed with his honor and the honor of La France, and yet rather admirable too in his prickly way.

In this fine book the Brigadier regales us with stories of his youth, when most of Europe was part of the French Empire and opportunities abounded for young men who looked good in cavalry uniform. Gerard tells the story with no irony, but the reader laughs a good deal at the absurdities of the hero. When attempting to shoot the ash off a cigar he destroys the whole cigar instead, to the dismay of its smoker who is smoking it at the time. Clearly, Gerard maintains, the pistol is at fault. On a few occasions he succeeds when all expect him to fail and as a result his success is actually a failure. The stories encompass many of the great events of the Napoleonic wars: the horrors of partisan fighting in Spain, the invasion of Russia, war in the German states and Prussia, even capture by the British. Always the stories are superbly told with a very fine eye for realistic detail and they are often quite gripping. Again this is one of those books I am amazed has never been made into a film or a TV series.

George MacDonald Fraser has taken a good deal of the Gerard style for his Flashman series, although of course the two characters are poles apart in morality.

I recommend this book to all lovers of history novels and also to anyone who just likes to read superb stories in the grand old manner, where manly men are engaged in "honest" combat, and where evil enemies, treacherous peasants, and duplicitous politicos usually meet their doom under Gerard's cavalry saber.

The success of the Sherlock Holmes stories has overshadowed the fact that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote many other stories of entirely different character. The New York Review of Books Classics has brought the `Exploits and Adventures of Brigadier Gerard' back to life. The Gerard character is said to be Conan Doyle's second best fictional invention.

The eight `Exploits' stories were published between 1894 and 1895 while the ten `Adventures' were published after a five year hiatus between 1900 and 1903. Like the Holmes tales, these pieces were published as serials in The Strand Magazine. Once again we owe a debt of happy gratitude to the NYRB for reviving this quirky, funny, heroic series of adventure tales.

The eponymous Gerard is one Etienne Gerard, a Hussar (a light cavalryman) in the French Army during the Napoleonic Wars. In other words, a character about as far removed from the dyspeptic intellectual detective of Baker Street as one can imagine. In the excellent introduction (one of the hallmarks of the NYRB Classics series), George Macdonald Fraser remarks on the courage Conan Doyle showed in showcasing a French hero fighting against the British less than 80 years after Napoleon was finally defeated (As Fraser notes "even today [the French ] are not notably popular north of the Channel"). Quite a feat of imagination.

Like Harry Flashman (Flashman: A Novel (Flashman)) and the lesser known Otto Prohaska (A Sailor of Austria: In Which, Without Really Intending to, Otto Prohaska Becomes Official War Hero No. 27 of the Habsburg Empire (The Otto Prohaska Novels)), Gerard is in his old age when he spins his stories to the reader. Gerard boasts that he is the greatest swordsman, horseman, and lover as well as the most loyal servant of Napoleon in the entire French army. And Conan Doyle permits Gerard to excel in all these measures and yet his excessive pride makes him obtuse. As Fraser put it Gerard is "vain, touchy, obstinate, reckless, boastful, and none too bright." He is entirely ingenuous, which repeatedly leads him to trouble and then he must slash his sword and dash away on his horse to escape. Gerard is charmingly unaware that he is a strutting French peacock; he assumes that others should and do recognize his exceptional qualities. Coming from a more self-aware man such cocksureness would be intolerable conceit.

I titled this review "What Would Harry Flashman Make of Etienne Gerard?" That's a fun question to speculate about. It would take a new Sir Arthur Conan Doyle or Sir George MacDonald Fraser to do it justice. My guess is Harry would laugh up his sleeve at Gerard until he saw Etienne's sword swinging dangerously toward his head. For his part, I expect Gerard would be blissfully unaware of Flashman's disdain, but might he also detect Harry's certain 'shyness'?

The `Exploits and Adventures of Brigadier Gerard' are wonderful entertainments. Like the Sherlock Holmes stories, the pity is there are so few of them. Highest recommendation.

This collection of fictionalised wartime reminiscences shows a truly great writer firing on all cylinders. With a draining six-year war just finished, the regiment is winding down in North Africa, and such is the way of the military that the men must be kept busy on a variety of more-or-less useless tasks. These they tackle in a hilariously bumbling way, aided to no small extent by the inexperience of their officer, who serves as the book's narrator.

They play football well, but let the side down with off-field brawls and gambling, cause havoc on a night exercise and have trouble with their kilts when presenting to royalty. The title story is a tour-de-force, when a crusty, whisky-mellowed General thinks he can redefine the Scottish dancing tradition by turning an eightsome into a hundred and twenty-eightsome, with the assistance of Arab cooks and drivers.

Fraser proves enormously clever in melding fiction with reminiscence and delivers a book that is essential reading matter for anyone with a sense of humour.

George MacDonald Fraser served in the "other ranks" of the British Army in Burma late in WWII. Commissioned as a subaltern (2nd lieutenant) following the Japanese surrender, he served as a platoon leader in a Gordon Highlander battalion posted to the Middle East before being "demobbed", i.e. released from active duty. His experiences serve as the basis for THE GENERAL DANCED AT DAWN, initially published in 1970, a first person account by the fictional Dand MacNeill, subaltern of a platoon in an unspecified Highland battalion posted first to Libya, then to Edinburgh, during the period 1945-1947.

THE GENERAL DANCED AT DAWN is a work of wry humor, inasmuch as Lt. MacNeill describes the unintentionally comic situations encountered with his Jocks (men) during garrison life both in Scotland and abroad, mostly the latter. The book is actually a series of short stories, in which a common thread tying all together, besides Dand himself, is Pvt. McAuslan, the dirtiest, most slovenly soldier in His Majesty's service. As described by MacNeill:

" ... he lurched into my office (even in his best tunic and tartan he looked like a fugitive from Culloden who had been hiding in a peat bog) ..."

McAuslan may be the focus of a particular chapter, as when he is court-martialed for refusing an order to enter a pillow fight contest to be held during a gathering of the various Highland regiments. Or, he may make nothing more than a brief cameo appearance, as when he is upbraided by MacNeill for fighting one of the crewman aboard the coastal steamer ferrying the battalion's soccer team on a road-trip against the teams of neighboring British commands - a fight brought on by the sailor's comments regarding McAuslan's unsanitary appearance.

The squalid presence of McAuslan notwithstanding, the central character of the book is Dand MacNeill, whether he's coping with the unfathomable questions of the officer selection board, pressed into command of an overnight troop train from Cairo to Jerusalem through unruly Palestine, mounting the ceremonial guard at Edinburgh Castle, or taking lessons in regimental piping history from the god-like Regimental Sergeant Major. Dand's narrative of military service is of such good humor and wit that it's evident his alter ego, Fraser, remembers his own time in uniform as an enriching life experience, despite the hardships of WWII combat. This positive slant on the book's theme, and Fraser's/MacNeill's fine sense of the ludicrous, make the volume one that I couldn't put down. (I've encountered so-called "thrillers" that were less absorbing.)

Note: THE GENERAL DANCED AT DAWN is currently out of print in the US. However, it and Fraser's two sequels in the McAuslan series, MCAUSLAN IN THE ROUGH and THE SHEIKH AND THE DUSTBIN, are all contained in THE COMPLETE MCAUSLAN, available from Amazon.co.uk. This is a superb volume, worth to an Anglophile every pence spent in postage to deliver it across The Pond to The Colonies.

It is time that you hear "the sub-muckin', the whole cheese, the hail clanjamfry, the lot' about the Scottish Highland Regiment that served in Africa after World War II.

George MacDonald Fraser has written the stories of this regiment and its most infamous soldier, Private McAuslan, in three collections: "The General Danced at Dawn", "McAuslan in the Rough", and "The Sheikh and the Dustbin".

Through the narration by platoon commander Dand McNeil, McAuslan comes alive as the dirtiest soldier in the world, "wan o' nature's blunders; he cannae help bein' horrible. It's a gift."

Yet McAuslan is one of the most loveable creatures in all of literature. He may be grungy, filthy, clumsy, and disreputable, but he tries to do his best. Through his many misadventures, McAuslan marches into the heart of the reader, right leg and right arm swinging in unison, of course.

McAuslan, outcast that he is, experiences some infamous moments in his career: court martial defendant, ghost-catcher, star-crossed lover, golf caddie, expert map reader, and champion of the regimental quiz game (!). His tales, and the tales of his comrades-in-arms, are poignant at times, hilarious at others. These tales are so memorable because they are based on true stories.

The reader basks in all things Scottish in the stories. The language of the soldiers is written in Scottish brogue, although Fraser says in his introduction, "Incidentally, most of this volume is, I hope, written in English." Don't fret - a glossary is provided. (Reading the glossary alone causes some serious belly laughs.

If you read only one book this year, read this one. And if you know any veterans, give them a copy. It's a volume that the reader will not soon forget.

After reading the fine reviews already posted by others, one doubts whether another review will add much, but out of habit - near compulsion by now - here goes another - with an emphasis on reading connections.

As did many, perhaps most readers of the McAuslan stories, I came to them by way of The Flashman series (My favorites so far: Flashman: A Novel (Flashman) and Flashman in the Great Game: A Novel (Flashman). I enjoyed the Flashman enough to give McAuslan a try. Both series are funny, relate to historical events, and display an ear for language and an eye for detail, but could otherwise be written by different authors. The McAuslan stories are told by the reasonable, sensible, compassionate voice of Lieut. Dand MacNeill and relate the trials of life in a Highland regiment immediately after WW II. In other words, MacNeill could hardly be more different from Harry Flashman. The stakes are lower than in Flashman. The McAuslan tales deal with the mundane life of a soldier waiting for demobe and not imperial crises. These stories read just like tales that actually happened - and something pretty close to them probably did.

McAuslan plays less of a role in the The General Danced at Dawn than McAuslan in the Rough, but the stories are still a delight to read.

The McAuslan stories lie at the outreaches of contemporary humor; pretty obscure stuff and the more fun because of it. A great kick in finding works like these is stumbling upon other works of equal merit and obscurity. It's sort of guided serendipity, if you will. Flashman led not only to McAuslan, but also to John Biggins'A Sailor of Austria: In Which, Without Really Intending to, Otto Prohaska Becomes Official War Hero No. 27 of the Habsburg Empire (The Otto Prohaska Novels) and to Artemus Ward, his book. With many comic illustrations. (not sure how the Ward connection occurred. Mark Twain called Ward the greatest American humorist of his day.).

Highest recommendation and climb out on these other branches.

These wonderful stories, written by Fraser when he was an officer in the Gordon Highlanders at the end of the Second World War are priceless. There is much sardonic humor and wit here. The characters come and go throughout the book. Each chapter is a self contained story in itself almost. By far the one character who appears most often is the unhygenic pvt. McAuslan. He seems to do for the Scots what some of the WW2 comic characters like Sad Sack did for the GI's. The author, who speaks through the voice of his nom-de-guerre relates many amusing episodes. Some are a little silly at times, and the constant unwashed antics of "Peking Man" McAuslan gets a bit tiring, but this does not take away from the quality or humor of the work.

I like best when Fraser talks about the regimental history and lore of the Gordons when he's taking a break from McAuslan. There are some truly wonderful characters and events related here, all factual enough and displaying the honors and traditions which existed in old Highland regiments like the Gordons. Fraser is at his best when he talks of these traditions and one can see that he relished his hectic years with this famous Highland regiment.

The downsizing of the British Empire and the changes this would wrought in the army as well as the world are the backdrop against which these stories are told. This is not a book about war, but about a time when national service was apart of nearly everyone's life. Some of Fraser's opinions may not be considered PC for today, but this in my opinion adds to the charm of these stories. The war and its aftermath left lasting impressions on those who took part. The Gordon Highlanders are sadly no more, having been downsized in 1994. In this book you will find many funny and amusing tales which made them the fine regiment they once were. Those who have followed Fraser in his Flashman series will find a different style here, but equally entertaining in its own right. The McAuslan stories form part of a number of works that were written about the post war years in Britain. "Tunes of Glory" is another more serious example by Kenneth Kennaway.

The McAuslan stories have been recently gathered together into a triology which is not available from Amazon.com in the States. The book can be ordered from Amazon.com.co.uk and is well worth the extra pennies to do so.
Here's to the Gordons! Long may their memory live!

Frasier is quite a writer - best in others of his works where he can use his talented imagination. And as a reporter of his own exploits in Burma during the war, his ability is outstanding (one should read "Quartered Safe Out Here").
However, here in "Steel Bonnets" his hands are tied by tiresome reality and a remove of 400 years. Fraser admits this book is not a primer or even a text for college study, but it is a recount of his research and written with nostalgic favor since he comes from the border area himself. Mr. Fraser has great pride in his background and home, and he repeats the stories as faithfully as anyone could. The problem with "Bonnets" is that it hasn't much of a story.
In the first six pages of the book all to be said is done; the remainder is elaboration on who, when and where. Bandits raid other people's farms and towns, burning, stealing, killing, etc.. Generations of upwards to thirty families continue this insanity until Scotland is joined to England in about 1605 or so with James VI and I.
IF you ARE related to "border riding" English/Scots - (especially if named Graham, Johnstone, Maxwell or Armstrong, Kerr, Hume, Elliot or Nixon) then the book is well worth a look.

This book is the definitive history of the riding families -- the Border Reviers. It is a long scholarly look into the nature of these complex and determined families that does not pass judgment or apply modern values in the assessment of their history and deeds. This is not for the casusal reader. It uses a fair amount of old English spellings and can be an effort to decifer at times. However Fraser MacDonald combines this along with his natural story telling ability to make you feel as if you are on a foray across the border and it keeps you coming back for more. If you are a student of Border history or are lucky enough to have one of the riding names, make the effort to read this book. It has no equal in its treatment of the subject.

Until England and Scotland were united under a single king in March 1603, the border between them was, unsurprisingly, a natural place for strife and disorder. The two countries had been at war intermittently for centuries, and many armies had passed back and forth across the border counties. Fraser's history covers the last hundred years of the border, from 1503 to 1603, a period during which the decayed (and astonishingly corrupt) administration could never cope with the local gangs -- known as "reivers" -- who terrorized the district with cattle theft, murder, and arson.

The book is very well-organized. Fraser starts with a few pages on the long historical background, then takes about half the book to cover the reivers by topic: chapters on arms and armour; on reiving technique; on the key families and their alliances; on cross-border relations; on the administrative structure. Fraser gives a lot of details, and plenty of quotes from the original sources (with the original spellings!).

This painstaking coverage sets up the second half of the book perfectly: one hundred and forty pages that cover the history of the border chronologically through the sixteenth century. With the details in hand, the second half is easy to follow and put in context; the writing is also clear and entertaining.

The last section of the book details the uncompromising way in which King James I destroyed the reivers in a few short years after 1603. It is a startlingly bloodthirsty story: Fraser includes quotes from blanket pardons that King James issued to some of his enforcers, which essentially say "whatever murders you did, I'm sure it was in a good cause, and you're absolved".

There are separate chapters on some of the most famous events, notably the raid on Carlisle Castle that freed Kinmont Willie. Fraser is at some pains to dispel the romantic ideas that cling to stories of the borderers -- as he points out, they were essentially a Mafia, with little of Robin Hood about them. It's clear, though, that he finds their adventurousness and style endearing and fascinating; and he writes about them so well that you are likely to feel the same way.

MacDonald Fraser brings to the history of the Anglo-Scots border reivers all the exuberance and attention to detail that made his name in the Flashman novels. Readers looking for more gloriously politically-incorrect adventures from the Victorian age won't find them here, but this book does repay the extra effort needed from the reader. The Steel Bonnets is the most entertaining yet informative serious works of history I have read.
The story of the Anglo-Scots border is a complex and a bloody one. MacDonald Fraser manages to understand, without condoning, the hard men who fought and died, rode and raided across the border between the kingdoms of England and Scotland. He untangles the knotted threads of their family ties and feuds and reveals their part in the wider relations between England and Scotland prior to the union of the Crowns in 1603. He dives into the dusty depths of the written records and brings them back to us red in tooth and claw.
At a time when the border between England and Scotland looks as though it may become an international, rather than a domestic border once more, this book should be of relevence to all with an interest in and love of these two nations.

I was born in Carlisle, England. The second big town of the border area other than Berwick. My father is from Longtown, Cumbria which is right next to the debateable land and I have the last name of Crozier. This book was like reading about my own history and explained a whole lot of things about my home town and the people I grew up with. Just in my neighborhood, there were Armstrongs, Taylors, Littles, Nixons, Grahams and many other Reiver names.
This is a very scholarly book and exceptionally well written. The author must have done an incredible amount of research to put this together. I read it twice, the second time noting how many references to Croziers(Crosers) there were. My father's family name is in there 26 times. Along with the Armstrongs, Nixons and Eliots, we were considered the worst of the worst of the reivers. Maybe not something to be proud of, but interesting. According to my mother(God rest her soul)her paternal grandfather was the illegitmate son of the Duke of Buccleugh(you'll hear a lot about the Scotts of Buccleugh, many of whom had the same name of Walter, including the famous one), so I have Reiver blood from there too. Fascinating book especially if you have a surname that might go back to that part of the world and those times.
What I have written here is just a taste of the whole book. A little heavy going at times, but so good that I have read it twice already and now use it as a research tool.

I have read this book from cover to cover a couple of times now and can still enjoy dipping into a particular story. The reason that one can read and re-read these stories so easily is because they work well on so many different levels.

As other reviewers have noted, these are essentially the memoirs of the author during his time with the Gordon Highlanders at the end of World War II. Many of the stories contain great humour, often real laugh out loud stuff, but just as essential are the incredibly accurate insights into the life and culture of the Scottish people, particularly the men of the regiment mentioned.

If you seek some amusing stories, then they are here aplenty. But I believe these stories have much to offer to those with an interest in the post-war period, in social trends in Britain and Scotland particularly. It would be a shame to skip these stories on the mistaken premise that they are just funny army stories.

A wonderful collection of comedic short stories centered around service in a Highland regiment following the close of World War 2. If you find understated English (or in this case, Scottish)humor in the least bit amusing, you'll be delighted by this book. The mere description of McAuslan (aka the dirtiest soldier in the world, aka the Tartan Caliban)'s day as a batman is worth the price of the book. Fraser's writing generally is a hoot for me and I loved the Flashman papers, but I intend to keep THIS one and read it over and over!

Having read many of the Flashman novels, I was intrigued by a copy of McAuslan in the Rough several years ago. It proved hilarious and, in a way, educational. When this compilation came out, I was able to read the first and last volumes in the series, which are equally good. The stories involve some cultural and social issues that only a Scot would fully appreciate. However, Fraser's talent is to make those issues universal, so that everyone can relate to the characters, without the characters loosing any of the traits that make them uniquely Scot.
However, what it all boils down to is that Fraser tells a story so well. Even if the story is not particularly funny, (and he does not appear to be going for laughs all of the time), it is still a compelling, well told tale. I will be passing this one to friends of all ages for some time to come.

Early last year, when MCAUSLAN ENTIRE was only available from the UK as THE COMPLETE MCAUSLAN, I spent the extra gold to get it shipped across The Pond - and it was worth every penny.

This is perhaps the funniest single book I've ever read. Granted, it's actually a compendium of three works previously published over a span of many years, but I salute Fraser's ability to sustain the level of humor from the beginning to end of his McAuslan saga.

Another of the author's remarkable talents is his ability to recreate in text a heavy Scottish dialect. After finishing, I gave the book to a colleague from Scotland, and she delightedly pronounced the dialogue authentic. I suspect that this collection of stories, based on Fraser's reminiscences of his own stint as a very junior officer with a Highland regiment for several years immediately after World War II, will entertain anyone who's ever served in the military, no matter what country or service branch. I myself spent 11 years in the U.S. Navy, and I couldn't put it down.

Absolutely first class!

MacAuslan Entire is actually the collected MacAuslan stories written by the incredible George MacDonald Frasier in the 70's and 80's, including The General Danced at Dawn, MacAuslan in the Rough and The Shiek and the Dustbin. The individual books have been out of print for some time and are close to impossible to find, so the fact that the collection has been republished is great news. The book is actually a collection of short stories centering around "a Highland regiment" (The Gordon Highlanders, as it turns out) right after World War II. The regiment is stationed in Africa, and later in Scotland, and the stories are peopled with the types of characters familiar to those who love black and white movies: the stern and all-knowing Regimental Sergeant-Major, the harried junior officers, the mischievious Pipe-major, the connected and savvy quartermaster and the hawk-faced and wise commanding officer. Private MacAuslan, the dirtiest soldier in the world, makes appearances in about half the chapters, but the books are really the story of lieutenant Dand MacNeill, a subaltern in the regiment. MacNeill is a thinly-disguised Frasier, who as a junior officer spent a number of years in The Gordon Highlanders in Egypt and later in Scotland. The books are excellent historical fiction, and are immensely readable, as are all George MacDonald Frasier's books. Although not the most politically-correct author by today's measurments, his sense of humor and abilities as a story-teller are in fine form here, and his phonetic rendering of the Scottish accent, and 1940's regimental slang is quite humorous. I would reccomend this book highly.

This collection of semi-autobiographical stories shows Fraser at his best, freed from the need to construct fiction around his Flashman character and hence allowed to bring on a rich cast of well-remembered characters from his youth. The camaraderie of an Army regiment is beautifully drawn, as are the tensions which exist inside any closely-knit group of people.

But the stories dominate this book, from the tense inter-regimental quiz to the chaotic attempts to prevent a smallpox outbreak and the tour-de-force in which all of the main characters find themselves involved in a golf match, the tension increased by the smallness of the stakes for which they are playing.

All the characters, from mystical-thinking padres from the Western Isles, to Glaswegian ruffians and Sandhurst-trained exquisites, play their part in one of the most enjoyable and amusing collections of short stories it is possible to imagine.

'McAuslan in the Rough', a collection of seven short stories, recounts tales of service in a Scottish Highland regiment after WW II in North Africa and later back home awaiting demobilization.

The narrator is a young subaltern by the name of Dand MacNeill who has the dread luck to suffer McAuslan's presence in his platoon. To explain the extent of this misfortune, I can do no better than offer three short excerpts that paint the picture. Turning up to caddy in a match against a set of English officers, McAuslan's "grey-white shirt was open to the waist, revealing what was either his skin or an old vest, you couldn't tell which. His hair was tangled and his mouth hung open; altogether he looked as though he'd just completed a bell-ringing stint at Notre dame." (McAuslan in the Rough).

Later McAuslan "demonstrated yet again his carelessness, negligence, and indiscipline, and at the same time his fine adherence to principle." (His Majesty says good-day).

"Not that he was a bad sort, in his leprous way, but he was sure disaster in any enterprise to which he set his grimy hand." (Bo Geesty).

The McAuslan stories appear to be at least semi-autobiographical both with regard to MacNeill and McAuslan. According to Wikipedia, Fraser was busted back to private from Lance Corporal on three occasions, once for losing a tea urn, but later achieved a commission and served as a lieutenant in the Gordon Highlanders. Fraser also wrote an actual autobiography, Quartered Safe Out Here: A Recollection of the War in Burma.

Fans of Flashman (Flashman: A Novel (Flashman)) will be thrilled to learn that there are more Fraser's works to be read. Mawe no mistake, McAuslan is no Harry Flashman. Nonetheless, McAuslan does grow on the reader, but MacNeill would probably say it's a fungus that may not be easily cured and should be looked after right away.

Highly recommended.

In this book and the previous The General Danced at Dawn, the gallant Lieutenant McNeil remains cool under fire.... Even when it's his spooren that's on fire. He cooly changes diapers on a terrorist threatened train through Palestine (where that arab soldier is still trapped in the toilet with his rifle). He guards the hottest soccer team in the army from a modern Blackbeard. He even survives being caddied by that noted golf expert, McAuslan, not only the dirtiest soldier in the world, but the only one who marches swinging his left arm and leg together.

Very, very funny and sometimes touching.

It is time that you hear "the sub-muckin', the whole cheese, the hail clanjamfry, the lot' about the Scottish Highland Regiment that served in Africa after World War II.

George MacDonald Fraser has written the stories of this regiment and its most infamous soldier, Private McAuslan, in three collections: The General Danced at Dawn, McAuslan in the Rough, and The Sheikh and the Dustbin.

Through the narration by platoon commander Dand McNeil, McAuslan comes alive as the dirtiest soldier in the world, "wan o' nature's blunders; he cannae help bein' horrible. It's a gift."

Yet McAuslan is one of the most loveable creatures in all of literature. He may be grungy, filthy, clumsy, and disreputable, but he tries to do his best. Through his many misadventures, McAuslan marches into the heart of the reader, right leg and right arm swinging in unison, of course.

McAuslan, outcast that he is, experiences some infamous moments in his career: court martial defendant, ghost-catcher, star-crossed lover, golf caddie, expert map reader, and champion of the regimental quiz game (!). His tales, and the tales of his comrades-in-arms, are poignant at times, hilarious at others. These tales are so memorable because they are based on true stories.

The reader basks in all things Scottish in the stories. The language of the soldiers is written in Scottish brogue, although Fraser says in his introduction, "Incidentally, most of this volume is, I hope, written in English." Don't fret - a glossary is provided. (Reading the glossary alone causes some serious belly laughs.

If you read only one book this year, read this one. And if you know any veterans, give them a copy. It's a volume that the reader will not soon forget.

MCAUSLAN IN THE ROUGH is George MacDonald Fraser's 1974 sequel to THE GENERAL DANCED AT DAWN. In the former, Dand MacNeill continues to reminisce about his time spent as a subaltern commanding a platoon of tartan-kilted Scottish Highlanders during the period 1945-1947 while the battalion is posted to both Libya and Edinburgh. One of MacNeill's Jocks is Pvt. John McAuslan, by consensus the filthiest, most unkempt soldier in the British Army. As Dand records:

"... (his) grey-white shirt was open to the waist, revealing what was either his skin or an old vest, you couldn't tell which. His hair was tangled and his mouth hung open; altogether he looked as though he'd just completed a bell-ringing stint at Notre Dame."

Each of Fraser's books is a collection of short stories relating to events experienced by Dand and his battalion, and particularly his platoon, and which are based on Fraser's own service in the Gordon Highlanders during the same time period. So, in this volume, the lieutenant and his comrades-in-arms garrison an isolated desert outpost for a month, face the controversial inclusion of a black piper in the regimental band (it is, after all, 1946), compete in a general knowledge quiz contest with the Fusiliers regiment, contemplate McAuslan's dubious success with the ladies, mount a nighttime raid on the local Souk to apprehend two deserters, and engage the Royals regiment in a golf tournament. And, lastly, what happens when Dand and McAuslan are released from active duty ("demobbed") on the same day. Whereas in GENERAL McAuslan's contribution to events was erratic and usually of brief duration, in ROUGH his role is expanded to the point where he's a key player in four of the seven chapters. As always, MacNeill's first person narration, both witty and good-natured, ties it all together.

Note: MCAUSLAN IN THE ROUGH is currently out of print in the US. However, it and Fraser's two other books in the McAuslan series, THE GENERAL DANCED AT DAWN and THE SHEIKH AND THE DUSTBIN, are all contained in THE COMPLETE MCAUSLAN. I found this to be a captivating and entertaining volume, which I heartily recommend to anyone who is a student of the British military's former role in establishing and policing the Empire. One notable characteristic of Fraser's writing is his ability to quote Dand's Jocks, and put their heavily accented Scottish dialect on paper. By the end of the book, I could actually understand what was being "said".