# The Falklands War Then and Now - Book Review



## dangerboy (18 Sep 2009)

_The Falklands War Then and Now_, edited by Gordon Ramsey.  The book _The Falklands War Then and Now_ is published by After the Battle, if you are not familiar with this company what they do is take photos taken during a battle and then go back and recreate the picture trying to match it exactly (same angle, distance location, and so on). In honour of the 25th anniversary they went to the Falklands Islands to tour the battlefields and take pictures to compare them to ones taken during the 1982 conflict between Great Britain and Argentina.

This book is not just a series of photographs.  It starts of with a brief historical background on the dispute between the two countries over these small islands which has gone since around the 1700's. Then it goes into a day by day account of the conflict starting with the brave defense of the Island by Royal Marine Naval Party 8901 to the surrender of the Argentine forces by General Menendez to Major General Moore and the subsequent voyage home and ending most fittingly with a Role of Honour of the Soldiers, Sailors and Airman of both counties and civilian residents of the Falkland who made the ultimate sacrifice fighting for their Countries.

The day by day account is in the form of narrations from a cross section of people from both sides and from all elements plus accounts from residents of the islands.  As these are personnel accounts you can't help but feel moved when reading them.  When I was reading about the sinking of the Sir Galahad I had to take a break as I was emotionally tired.  And even though I was brought up to blame the Argentinians for their actions after reading stories by the soldiers who were conscripted into the army I could not help but feel sorry for them.

I would recommend this book to anyone that has an interest in the Falklands Island war or has an interest in military history in general.  One word of warning once you read a book published by "After the Battle" you will want to read other battles that they published and they are not cheap (I recommend _"Operation Market-Garden, Then and Now"_ . 

_The Falklands War Then and Now_ Edited by Gorden Ramsey, published by After the Battle.  625 pages, ISBN 1-870067-71-1.

Edited to fix my silly spelling mistakes (Naval not Navel)


----------



## Bass ackwards (18 Sep 2009)

Thanks for posting that. I've been looking for a good book on the Falklands war to add to my library and that one sounds like it might be just the ticket. 

That "after the battle" format sounds interesting. It brings to mind Ken Bell's 1988 book _The Way We Were _ which I thought was quite nicely done. 

EDIT:
I see Amazon's listing it for $85.95 CDN (but do not have it in stock currently)


----------



## Jungle (18 Sep 2009)

dangerboy said:
			
		

> ... starting with the brave defense of the Island by Royal Marine *Navel* Party 8901...



A "Navel" party ?? I hope there were some girls...  or is it like their "naked bar" thing !?!   :


----------

