Archibald Forbes was a great war correspondent who inherited the mantle of the famous William Russell in the Crimea. After a brief career as a Private in the Royal Dragoons, he was invalided out of his regiment and became a journalist. He reported from both sides of the 1870 Franco-Prussian War, at first observing the French preparations for the defence of Paris, then accredited to the besieging Prussians as a correspondent for the 'Daily News' where he witnessed the horrors of the siege and Commune of Paris. He subsequently reported from India, the Carlist wars in Spain and the 1877 Russo-Turkish war. He witnessed the British victory over the Zulus at Ulundi and after his retirement from the field lectured and wrote many accounts of his experiences. This book is one such, being a varied collection of essays and recollections of his travels - including a portrait of General Wolseley, observations of 19th century America and Australia and an account of Christmas on the Khyber Pass.