THE CHANGING OF THE GUARD: The British Army Since 9/11.

• Jurisdiction: New Zealand
• Date: 01 November 2021
• Author: Couchman, Bryan
• Published date: 01 November 2021
• Author: Couchman, Bryan

THE CHANGING OF THE GUARD: The British Army Since 9/11

Author: Simon Akam

Published by: Scribe, London, 2021, 688pp, A$60.

As the historian William Dalrymple observed, 'It is a very bad idea to invade Afghanistan; but as many authors have discovered, it is often a very good idea to write about it.' Amongst the plethora of books written about the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, this controversial tome has attracted considerable attention this year and in the process raised the profile of its author, British journalist Simon Akam. Like a few of its predecessors, this book's publication was delayed due to legal concerns; it only saw the light of day due to the tenacity of the author and a fortuitous change in publisher. Akam endeavours to track the British Army's performance since 2001, partly in a bid to determine what it learnt (and reportedly did not learn) from its experiences in the post-9/11 wars.

Written in the literary non-fiction tradition, it is bookended by two pieces of first-person narrative. The first records the impact of an extraordinary history teacher, who provided the inspiration for Akam to briefly experience British Army life as a subaltern through its university gap year scheme. The book turns full circle when Akam revisits his old school mentor a decade later to reflect on how institutions like the army have grappled with wide ranging change over the intervening period. An ambitious book, it aims to give an account of contemporary Britain...