Review: Not the Slightest Chance
| Date | 01 June 2005 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070200506000235 |
| Published date | 01 June 2005 |
| Author | John Ferris |
| Subject Matter | Review |
I
Reviews
|
Whether this prediction bears fruit remains to be seen. But at a mini-
mum, English's
tour
d'horizon
in this valuable work should inspire more
Canadians to take a greater interest in considering how aspects
of
our every-
day culture that we take for granted also
affect
our armed forces as they seek
to serve our interests at home and abroad. In more ways
than
we appear to
realize,
our military is us.
Dan
W.
Middlemiss/Dalhousie
University
NOT
THE
SLIGHTEST
CHANCE
The
Defence
of
Hong
Kong,
1941
Tony
Banham
Vancouver:
UBC Press, 2003. xx, 431pp.
$85.00
cloth
(ISBN
0-7748-1044-
o),
$29.95 paper (
ISBN
0-7748-1045-9)
In
this work, Tony Banham aims "to write a new
type
of history—a histo-
ry based on the individual—all the individuals, rather
than
the big battal-
ions so beloved of Napoleon and traditional historians" (x). He achieves
this
objective,
which has advantages and disadvantages. This work rests on
thorough research in published accounts, in archives on three continents
(Hong Kong, London, and Ottawa) and interviews with survivors. Banham
reconciles
the divergent, often conflicting, accounts of details in the battle
of
Hong Kong, which involved an immense labour
of
love.
This work is the
most accurate account of that battle, and its most essential reading; yet
anyone who reads Banham alone will not really
understand
that matter.
For
Not the
Slightest
Chance
is not a book—instead, it is a narrative,
focused
on detail rather
than
analysis, much of it presented in diary form.
This
is not a history of this battle, but a commemoration of the lives and
deaths of individuals who experienced it. The work is linked to a website
including the names of every member of the garrison. In many ways it is
a
collaboration between Banham and many survivors of the battle. This
work is what he and they want, and it is a fitting tribute to people who
deserve one.
Yet
this approach prevents Banham from making points he wishes to,
including the matter of most interest to readers in this country, the
Canadian role in Hong Kong. Banham holds that much of the recent
Canadian literature—books by Carl Vincent and Brereton Greenhous, and
I
International
Journal
|
Spring
2005
| 603 |
To continue reading
Request your trial