Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

Filson Young (1876-1938) was an author and critic who wrote prolifically for newspaper, magazines, and book publishers in the early 20th century. He wrote the first book on the "Titanic" disaster and was among the first to recognize the importance of James Joyce.

Filson Young (1876-1938) was an author and critic who wrote prolifically for newspaper, magazines, and book publishers in the early 20th century. He wrote the first book on the "Titanic" disaster and was among the first to recognize the importance of James Joyce.

The single best work of reportage about the battlecruiser, ever, by a war correspondent who was with Beatty's Battlecruiser Squadron at Jutland. Filson Young: the Bob Woodward of battlecruisers.An excerpt: Here, then, was the ideal type for which Lord Fisher in our conversations had so often sighed; and I was secretly disappointed when, on my mentioning Fisher's name, Beatty merely smiled. And I was still more crestfallen when, a few days later, I spoke of Beatty enthusiastically to Lord Fisher, he gave me a blank, sour look and said: "Really? Never met him."I did not know the Navy as well in those days as I know it now, or I would have been less surprised than I was that the obviously ablest men in control of naval affairs were far from seeing eye to eye with one another, and even (what was more remarkable) neglected to make any real study of one another's aims and potentialities. Naval thought, where it existed, was divided into camps, each one regarding victory over the others as essential to victory over the Germans. Thus Lord Charles Beresford, whose best work in his retirement was his untiring public advocacy of naval efficiency, gave one in private a most alarming impression that the Navy was already practically in German control; and one of his mildest views of Lord Fisher was that he was a madman who, on the eve of war, had deliberately scrapped the majority of our cruisers. Winston Churchill was at one time probably one of the men most disliked by the Navy at large; but when one tried to discuss his administration seriously, one was told stories of his bad manners: as, for example, of his going on board a ship, entering the wardroom, ringing the bell and sending for the Commander - a solecism the gravity of which one must have lived in a wardroom to appreciate. And yet, one felt, it was not quite an argument against his efficiency as an administrator. But all the naval officer saw was a man to whose power our sacred naval traditions were committed, and who apparently knew or cared so little for the smallest of them that the greatest might well be in peril at his hands. The anti-Churchill camp was a very strong one. He, on the other hand, seemed to regard Lord Fisher as a dangerous genius to be caught, chained, tamed, and made careful use of; Lord Fisher regarded him (I am speaking of the two years before the war) as a politician to be fought or flattered, made or destroyed, according to his degree of adaptability to the great purpose.

The Boer War from an able writers pen
Although the title of this book reflects some of its subject matter, in fact, the relief of Mafeking is the objective-the concluding triumph-towards which many of the events recorded within its pages are concerned and directed. More correctly it is a newspaperman's view from that golden age of journalism when the special correspondent travelled to any number of far flung battlegrounds in the company of British troops to observe, chronicle and send home the news to the British Empire's public. Filson Young was the consummate media man whose career would make a fascinating book in its own right. At the time of the Boer War he was a young journalist working for the Manchester Guardian and his writing ably represents that's newspapers reputation for fine writing. This is an excellent book in every way. Young intimately introduces us to 'Tommy Atkins' and with him and them he describes the war on the veldt-full of anecdote, expert description and incident-up to and beyond the relief of Mafeking itself. Recommended.