My rating: 2 of 5 stars
‘Last Stands’ was ultimately a very disappointing read in some very unexpected ways. My favourite film is ‘The Last Samurai’ which is about the same thing this book claims to be, an heroic last stand against an overwhelmingly stronger enemy. Discovering then, that this book existed meant that it shot straight to the top of my ‘to read’ list. I am sorry to say that it almost entirely fell short of my expectations. As part of my review however, I will mentioned the positives about this book to begin with.
It must be told how extraordinary the introduction to ‘Last Stands’ is. Very rarely have I before seen a topic so richly analysed and described in such a way that I didn’t want the chapter to end. I had thought that it was a taster for the rest of the book, but this came as a bitter surprise. More on that later.
Another way I benefited from this book was that I gained a wide (yet by no means deep) overview of many periods of history and across many civilisations. The examples given within the book ranged from the Zulus to the Native Americas, the Greeks to the Ottomans, the Huns to the Sudanese. It was a pleasure to be taken across the world with each example, traversing oceans, continents and even time itself.
Unfortunately however, this is where the compliments end and my criticism of the book begins.
The first and ultimately biggest issue I have with this book is the obsessive level of hatred the author has with Islam. The book contains many ‘last stands’ from the perspective of Christian and Jewish warriors and of course there is nothing wrong with that. In fact, I am not even of the persuasion to expect the author to include last stands from Muslim history just for ‘completeness’. No, I understand that people have the freedom to choose whatever slice of history they wish for their works. However, the Muslim perspective, and both Islam and Muslims themselves are not only unincluded, but actively demonised and insulted.
Again, one has the right to write whatever they wish, but I was of the understanding that the author, Michael Walsh was a professional, an academic with a commanding authority of history and its sources. I had the expectation that this was a serious book written by an accredited individual, but I realise now that reality fell far from my expectations. Some of the things he said in this regard are outright lies against the religion of Islam, others are mere repetition of contemporary propaganda while the remaining are glimpses of the authors own vitriolic hatred.
Examples include:
- Accusing Islam of being nothing more than a combination of Christian and Jewish teachings (if that was true, then how did Islam present new information, avoid old errors and even correct mistakes from those religions?)
- How the mighty Persia had apparently contributed nothing since the conquest of Islam (a basic look at history and the importance of Persian invention after the arrival of Islam is sufficient to refute this ludicrous claim)
- The Ottoman Turks being ‘fuelled by homicidal missionary zeal’ and accusations of ‘taqqiyah’
- The constant reiteration that the ‘battle against Islam’ never ended and is still underway today (similar tones of incitement underly the entire book)
The list above is by no means exhaustive, and with such claims and statements peppered throughout the book, one begins to wonder if this author has something very personal to prove.
The moment I realised that the author was writing maliciously rather than ignorantly about this topic was his comment regarding Muslim Syrian refugees entering Europe from 2015 onwards. He made a direct comparison to innocent men, women and children fleeing a brutal civil war with nothing but the clothes on their backs to the colossal Ottoman assault on Vienna many centuries ago.
Anyone is free to hold whichever opinion they wish on such contemporary issues, but to compare some of the most vulnerable and uprooted people in the world to an invading hostile army at such scale is something I would expect to find in a tabloid newspaper, not a supposed academic text. The sum of all these digs and seemingly intended insults throughout the book cast a dark shadow across the entire work, as though they were a reminder that this book is not an objective analysis into history, but rather a reflection of the frustrations of the author.
The second major issue about this book is that despite the title, subject matter and its intended purpose, very little is actually explained to the reader about the last stands themselves.
We aren’t really given much of an ‘up close’ perspective (perhaps from some contemporary reports or survivors testimonies) but instead are explained the context leading up to the circumstances of the last stands in intricate detail. In many of the chapters the detail surrounding the context was extensive enough for me to believe they were the precursor to a similar level of detail about the grand event itself, but what I was faced with was sorely lacking.
I understand that the nature of a ‘last stand’ in of itself is that the soldiers and warriors who take part usually end up ‘dead to the last man’ and therefore no first hand accounts from their perspective survives, so I can extend some leniency in this regard; however this was a constant theme throughout the book. I learnt more about the context of the civilisation at the time rather than the event of the ‘last stand’ itself. Even including some last stands which left survivors or first-hand witnesses would have added some much needed flavour to this book. Without them however, this left a dissatisfied, sour taste in my mouth, feeling somewhat cheated out of my expectations.
There were also some miscellaneous issues here and here which made me double-take. At one instance, on the same page Michael Walsh explains that it is perfectly acceptable to submit and surrender to something inevitable, to know when a cause is lost and to stop fighting … but then says that the best amongst men are those who fight to the death. Which set of values are being championed here?
The final chapter was about the war stories of the author’s own father who served in the US Army during the Korea War. As it so happens he was himself involved in (and survived) some ‘last stand’ situations and was able to provide a unique insight into the mind of a solider in such a situation. Although intriguing, the chapter was drawn out and fell into the same pitfalls the rest of the chapters in the book did, far too long was spent on the context of the circumstances and not enough on the information that the reader picked up the book for. This chapter specifically felt as though it was more of a personal dedication from son to father than an objective insight into the situation itself, I am sure (and happy) that Michael Walsh has a strong bond with his father, but as a reader looking for something specific in a book on this topic, much of this chapter did not provide any relevance. Though this chapter echoed the great first chapter, both combined were not enough to lift up the chapters between them.
To conclude my review, Michael Walsh has written a total of 12 chapters on numerous different peoples and events, totalling 17 last stands and the experiences of the involved men fighting to the last man against their enemies – but he has unknowingly produced a work that contains 18 in total.
The final last stand in this book belongs to Michael Walsh himself, one where he has decided to perish upon the hill of ignorance, bigotry and misinformation in his quest to declare Islam as his enemy. Throughout the book the reader is made acutely aware of this passion of his towards demonising the religion of Islam and its adherents, historical and contemporary. Unlike the chapters in this book, Walsh’s is not heroic, it is one that is wasted, unnecessary and above all, stains every bit of his work. This seems more like a vent of frustration and a subliminal call to arms in the name of past glory if there ever was one.
A disappointing read. I do not recommend.