Falklands : Forgotten Voices of the Falkland Islands (A Book Review)
Submitted by Falkland Islands News Network (Juanita Brock) 06.05.2007 (Article Archived on 20.05.2007)
Hugh McManners has written a bench-mark book about the 1982 conflict with Argentina.
Photo and book published by Ebury Press.
FORGOTTEN VOICES OF THE FALKLAND ISLANDS
(A book Review)
By J. Brock (FINN)
Author, Hugh McManners has published a book entitled “Forgotten Voices of the Falkland Islands,” depicting the Falklands Conflict through the eyes and voices of people who lived through the 1982 Conflict with Argentina. Mr. McManners draws on the experiences of Trudi McPhee, John Fowler, Neil and Glenda Watson, Gerald Cheek, John Smith, Stephen Luxton, John Pole-Evans and Ailsa Heathman from the Falklands and Maria Fernanda Canas, Captain Barry Hussey, General Menendez, Air Marshall Gilobert and Captain Carlos Madero on the Argentine side. British Armed Forces personnel like Major Simon Southby-Taylor, Commander Robert Denton Green RN, and Rear Admiral Anthony John Whetstone. were referenced in the book.
Others are included within the pages but you’ll have to get the book to find out who they are.
To get most of the snippets Mr. McManners went to the Sound Archives of the imperial War museum as well as drawing on official photos taken during the conflict. It is a very thorough work that covers the invasion through to victory on 14 June 2007.
The book reveals how civil servants failed to resolve a dispute that should never have degenerated into violence and how the ineptitudes of some politicians and commanders came within a whisker of turning a national triumph into a terrible tragedy. Chapters cover Fatal Miscalculations, The Killing Begins, Fighting for the Falklands, and Doing the Business.
FINN enjoyed the book because it snatches in great detail the experiences of many key people during the conflict. It also draws on the accurate sound records held at the Imperial War Museum.
Sir Max Hastings wrote the introduction, saying that Hugh McManners’ book “represents a worthy tribute both to those who died and to those who survived this freak of history and played their parts in creating a national legend.”
Hugh McManners fought in the Falklands War as a Captain in 148 Commando Forward Observation Battery, serving with the Special Boat Squadron.
“Forgotten Voices of the Falkland Islands” was published on 19 April 2007 by Ebury Press and has a cover price of £19.00 (hardback).
This bench-mark book is well worth reading.
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