The Changing of the Guard: the British army since 9/11

This book has garnered both praise and criticism, most notably the criticism has centred on the author’s lack of experience, being a journalist with limited military experience, but such criticism overlooks the depth of his research, which has taken years.

In this book, he examines the relevance of the armed forces today — their social, economic, political, and cultural role.

This is as much a book about Britain, and about the politics of failure, as it is about the military and the how the British Army fought two campaigns, in Iraq and Afghanistan, at considerable financial and human cost, with neither war achieving its objectives.

Composed from assiduous research, field reportage, and interviews with many soldiers and officers who served, as well as the politicians who directed them, the allies who accompanied them, and the family members who loved and — on occasion — lost them, it is a detailed portrait of one of Britain’s pivotal national institutions in a time of great stress.

And yet, Akam concludes, if it isn’t so much a broader problem of British institutions struggling with both change and a new century rather than simply an army problem.

TO READ MORE ABOUT THIS BOOK, CHECK OUT THIS REVIEW IN THE GUARDIAN: