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Dead Was Everything
AMB


Joined: 07 Oct 2005
Posts: 921
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All,

I note that Pen & Sword have Keith's latest (due in May 14). Basic details:

Dead Was Everything by Keith Smith.
All Frontline Books
Hardback
304 pages
ISBN: 9781848327313
Published: 31 May 2014

Publisher's blurb:

The Anglo-Zulu War of 1879 still intrigues both scholars and enthusiasts alike more than 130 years after it was fought. Its story contains tragedy, high drama and the heavy loss of human life; it involved five major battles and two lesser fights; and led to the snuffing out of the direct male Napoleonic line of France. And all this in less than one year.

Reflecting on several years' research, Keith Smith presents a series of essays which explore hitherto unanswered questions and offer fresh insights into the key battles and protagonists of this epic conflict. He presents some surprising conclusions which differ, often radically, from more orthodox views.

He also sets out to reveal the characters of the men � of both sides � who might otherwise have been simply names on a page. They are not: they lived, loved, fought and died. Some were heroes while others were less than that. Most were ordinary men who chose a military career and did their best as far as they were able. White or black, British or colonial, they are all brought to life and their unique stories told. This is an important contribution to our understanding of this famous war and the men who fought in it.

AMB
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Alan
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Joined: 30 Aug 2005
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The title sounds like something from Star Wars.

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Keith Smith


Joined: 30 Aug 2005
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Location: Northern NSW, Australia
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Andrew

Thank you for introducing the new publication - you anticipated me by a week or so. The book is in fact a revised second edition of my Studies in the Zulu War published a few years ago.

Thanks

KIS
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AMB


Joined: 07 Oct 2005
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Keith,

Apologies if I stole your thunder!

Looking forward to the second edition of your studies work.

When you say a revised version, how revised?

AMB
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Keith Smith


Joined: 30 Aug 2005
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Andrew

Absolutely no apology required.


There are changes, and a new entry, to the two Isandlwana chapters. Other papers have been reviewed, and to a lesser extent, modified

KIS
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Peter Ewart


Joined: 31 Aug 2005
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Location: Near Canterbury, Kent, England.
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Good news, Keith! Hope the experience with the publishers was less traumatic this time! Anyone unfamiliar with Keith's previous Studies in the AZW of a few years back will find this a thought provoking work full of original research.

Alan - on the contrary, the title sounds exactly like something straight out of the Anglo-Zulu War! Extracts from C. de B. Webb's A Zulu Boy's Recollection of the Zulu War have been reproduced in quite a few works now and the expression dead was everything comes from the description by one of the Zulu boys who visited the field four days after the battle of Isandlwana, where they scared themselves with ghoulish experiences. It comes at the end of a long, descriptive sentence about everything left on the field being completely dead. Quite a few accounts have drawn on this article in the years since it first appeared in Natalia and the expression dead was everything has become synonymous with the battlefield in the days following the fight. I think it's a very good piece of work. I'm sure Ian Knight, for example, has used this story by Muziwento more than once. Perhaps the easiest way to find the passage is to have a look at Zulu Rising (p543/4). Or now that all volumes of Natalia are online, it'll be easy to pick up the whole account there if you haven't got it. Happy reading!

Peter
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Alan
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I meant it sounds like the way Yoda in Star Wars speaks. Sorry, to upset you meant I not.

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Peter Ewart


Joined: 31 Aug 2005
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Ah yes, see what you mean, Alan! Haven't seen Star Wars I'm afraid, so don't really know any of the people in it, but have seen that little chappie in some advert or other on the box for some gadget & did notice he spoke a bit backwards!

P.
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Alan
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I had to phone a son to ask him who the character is. I've only seen the ads too.

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Rob D


Joined: 01 Sep 2005
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Alan + Peter,
Out of touch you both are. Well known for 30 years Yoda has been.
Rob
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Peter Ewart


Joined: 31 Aug 2005
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Location: Near Canterbury, Kent, England.
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Rob

Undoubtedly right you are. Must have missed the film when out it came and have no idea what about it is, other than outer space suppose I. Yoda name new to me (out of again touch!) Muziwento but not! Had I been a kid or parent or grandparent when out it came perhaps I noticed it would have, but as I wasn't not I did. Did I much anything miss? Suspect not I but could wrong be (again!)

But more on topic, Keith's book will undoubtedly appeal to very many AZW afficianados. And a great title, if I may say so!

P.
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Rusteze


Joined: 05 Oct 2009
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A film as great as Zulu it is. Alec Guinness a great actor he was. Deprive yourselves any longer you should not.

May the Force be with you.

Steve

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Alan
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Of Yodaspeak, you're all getting the hang.

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Rusteze


Joined: 05 Oct 2009
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Alan

Nearly.

Yodaspeak, the hang of your getting.

The Thread, off topic it has become.

Steve

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Alan
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Apologies to Keith and Andrew for this diversion. It again, will happen not.

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Dead Was Everything
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