Autobiographies come in many shapes and forms, particularly those of the military genre. In this two-volume work, Field-Marshal Wood charts his remarkable career from the Navy to the highest rank in the British Army with wit, verve, honesty and no little depreciation. He served with distinction in the mud and misery of the Crimean War, the Indian Mutiny, Wolseley's Ishanti War, the Zulu War and in Egypt and the Sudan. His actions on attacking a gang of robbers intent on murdering a local merchant earned him the Victoria Cross - his second recommendation for the V.C. A man of considerable self-taught talents (he ran away from school), upright and forthright and of great personal courage, he survived multiple wounds during his military career to reach the pinnacle of rank. He was greatly concerned with the welfare of his troops and was at the forefront of the reforms that were to ensure the British Army's success in the First World War.
