Book reviews/Boekbesprekings

Abstract

T h i s work w a s pub l i shed or iginal ly in 1985 by Viking Press . It h a s been r e i s sued by Protea Book House w i t h an in t roduct ion by the d i s t i n g u i s h e d Br i t i sh h i s to r i an , Kenne th Morgan. The ma in value o f the original publicat i on o f To the bitter end l ay in i t s pho tographs , wh ich offer an of ten in t imate p ic tu re of the South African War . The book h a s been out of pr in t for some t ime and for th i s r ea son a republ ica t ion is welcome. It is, however , u n f o r t u n a t e tha t the n e w pub l i she r s were no t able to take more care in repub l i sh ing the book. Over the las t few years , Protea h a s b rough t out m a n y beaut l ful iy p roduced books. This un fo r tuna te ly is no t one of them. The qual i ty of the pho tog raphs is poor, while the publ ica t ion b e a r s all t he s igns of a h o o k h a s t i l y p roduced to meet a deadline. Typographical e r rors are to be found t h r o u g h o u t and it is difficult to believe tha t the text was seen by a proof reader . On page x, for example , one r e a d s tha t ' t he a u t h o r ' s medical knowledge b r ing horn epoipnantIy the t ragedy . ' The book dese rved bet ter t r e a t m e n t t h a n it h a s received.