“... a balanced picture of this
most unbalanced man... Well-considered, lucid and exciting...
the best book on the subject yet available”
Philip Ziegler, The Spectator |
“an illuminating study... The
authors are to be congratulated on an excellent, readable
book.”
Hugh Toye, Times Literary Supplement |
“Riveting... John Bierman and
Colin Smith, wily veterans of war reporting, are excellent
on the military adventurer who so caught the public imagination”
Walter Ellis, The Sunday Times |
“the authors of this excellent
biography are frank about his faults while rebutting the
more outrageous charges against him,”
Sunday Telegraph |
“...a vivid portrait of the man
and briskly sympathetic but unblinkered account of his
actions”
David Stafford The Times |
“Thought-provoking”,
Simon Shaw, Mail on Sunday |
“Compulsively readable”
Nicholas Fearn, Independent on Sunday |
“fast paced and satisfying...
the authors... know the geographical and military terrain
well and understand the lot of the ordinary soldier ”
New York Times |
“The authors, without losing their objectivity have made excellent use of
interviews with those who knew Wingate best. This is a first rate book about
a driven, tormented warrior,”
Washington Times |
“With balanced judgement and a sharp eye for revealing details, Bierman
and Smith bring a neglected warrior back to life.”
Publishers’ Weekly, New York. |
“Bierman and Smith employ numerous
sources and documents to analyze Wingate’s life, producing
a study that is more concise and manageable than Christopher
Sykes’s [ 1959 biography]. The extensive use of primary
material enhances the portrait, making it an interesting
and worthwhile choice for all readers,”
Library Journal. |
“Engaging... a page-turning tale of a military genius,”
Kirkus Review |
“A fascinating life and a fascinating book.”
Military Illustrated |
“This brilliant biography enables us to have a proper assessment of a hero.
Sometimes books by two authors can be disjoined but this is one seamless robe...
acceptable to any historian but gripping reading for the layman,”
Eric Hester, Catholic Times |
“a remarkable book,”
Nigel Blundell, Saga |
“it has to be accepted that at
a time when the British were on the back foot in the Far
East, Wingate collected and trained ab ordinary force who
were not selected volunteers, and mounted aggressive operations
against the Japanese in their rear areas. It may have been
expensive in manpower and materials, but it was a national
morale builder in proving that the Japanese were not invulnerable.”
Mars and Minerva, the journal of the Special Air Service. |
“After reading ‘Fire in the
Night’, one has to consider Wingate one of the most
influential military minds of the 20th century - and surely
one of the strangest,”
San Diego Union-Tribune. |
“This excellent biography is based
on thorough archival research as well as interviews with
many people who knew Orde Wingate. Eminently readable,
the book fills a void by recounting the life of a paradoxical
hero,”
Jerusalem Post. |
“a vivid portrayal of the man who lived the most fascinating of lives,”
Western Mail, Cardiff. |
“This is a quite outstanding biography... thoroughly recommended,”
Bill Hall, Newbury Weekly News. |
