The Official History of the Falklands Campaign

Dados Bibliográficos

ID9798627
AutoresM T Howard (0000-0002-1073-3932, University of Oxford, autor correspondente), Michael Howard
Ano2006
Volume121
Fascículo490
Páginas260-264
Data de publicação2006-02-01
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoThe English Historical Review (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0013-8266 • E-ISSN: 1477-4534
EditoraOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/ehr/cej040
OpenAlexW2085073853
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas27

The Official History of the Falklands Campaign. By LAWRENCE FREEDMAN (London: Routledge, 2005. 2 vols.: pp. xiv + 253; xxx + 849. £49.95). OFFICIAL Histories seldom receive the respect that they deserve. Professional academics suspect their impartiality: their authors, they fear, in return for their privileged access to otherwise unavailable sources, may have sold out to an Establishment with much to conceal, and paid an unacceptable price in impartiality and frankness. For the general public, the price of the work and, all too often, the flat officialese of the prose, puts them beyond reach. If published too early, they are unlikely to be frank; if too late there will be little left for them to say. Few historians have had their reputations enhanced by accepting this poisoned chalice. Sir Lawrence Freedman has no need to have his reputation enhanced. He had already established himself as an authority on the subject with two widely respected histories of the Falklands Campaign before he undertook the work under review. His style is relaxed and witty. Although properly respectful of the political and military leaders who bore the responsibility for conducting the campaign there is nothing deferential in his account of their activities. When he thinks their decisions were mistaken he says so and explains why. He is frank in describing the clash of personalities within the Cabinet and the High Command—though admittedly these have been described so publicly and so often by the participants themselves that he had little alternative to doing so. In short, these volumes should be regarded not so much as an ‘official history’ as a work by a major historian writing at the height of his powers with the willing assistance of all the participants in the drama he describes

Freedman · Impartiality · Nothing · Political science · Politics · Reputation · Sociology · Suspect · Balkan and Eastern European Studies · Border Security and International Relations · History · Island Studies and Pacific Affairs · Law

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