Great book about the little known role of an American on the Taiping Rebellion. The one thing I found missing were maps. Whenever I read a book with military tactics described in it, I need maps. Not just geographical maps, but maps that show the military tactics the author has spent so much time describing. Personally I think it would make a great movie. ( )

My reaction to this is mixed. First of all, that subtitle "The American Soldier of Fortune Who Became a God in China" is horribly cringe-worthy and misleading, and is contradicted by the explanation within the book. The publisher should not have used such a sensational subtitle.

The events here are absolutely fascinating: the true historical escapades of an American man who ventures to China as a freelance soldier, battled the rebellious pseudo-Christian Taipings on behalf of the Manchu government, and died in battle. Frederick Townsend Ward sounds like a truly intriguing fellow. The problem is, almost all the information about him has been destroyed. His family correspondence was purposely destroyed by his sister-in-law (gah!) and his shrine, grave, and written material in China was destroyed in waves through revolutions, the Japanese invasion, and then the Communist government. Carr still created a fascinating narrative, but it does often read as tedious with unavoidable gaps of data. The Chinese names used are a different transliteration than I am used to, so that made it more frustrated to keep track of who was who, and there are a lot of names thrown in here of Chinese, British and French soldiers, and Americans. At several points I debated whether to continue reading, but I kept on because I wanted to find out how events played out. I did make a few notes for my research interests, too. ( )

Carr tells the unlikely story of an American in 1850s China who finds himself leading the defense of the city of Shanghai against the Taipings. This was almost the basis for a Tom Cruise movie, but he decided to go with the Last Samurai instead. I won't recommend this for a general audience, but if you are interested in Shanghai or the Taipings, it will fill in a few gaps. ( )

"Chinese" Gordon and the Ever Victorious Army will be familiar names to anyone interested in colonial military history. The American who created the Ever Victorious Army is mostly unknown. This biography helps to lift Frederick T Ward out of obscurity. An adventurer who served in the Crimean War and in South America, he created a justly famous Chinese regiment-sized unit formed on Western tactics, led by Western officers and carrying Western weapons, that served the Qing dynasty as the spear-point to defeat the Taiping rebellion.

Ward's fame was cut short by his almost accidental death during an unimportant siege. Wounded numerous times, he tested his luck too much by his continued exposure to enemy fire, armed only with a rattan whip. After a number of unsuitable candidates, the young English officer Gordon stepped up and completed most of the downfall of the Taiping rebellion. The rulers of the Qing dynasty unfortunately decided to abolish the successful experiment of the Ever Victorious Army. A Chinese general in command of such troops would have posed grave potential risks to the dynasty. Avoiding modernization, the Qing dynasty was bound towards extinction. The memorial built to honor Ward was destroyed by the Japanese invaders. The Chinese communists to highlight the Taiping rebellion and not the reactionaries who defeated them. The expatriate community in Shanghai was too scandalized by Ward's going native and marrying a Chinese woman. She was considered tainted unlucky goods in Chinese eyes, as her Chinese fiancée died. Ward's death after his marriage probably did not lessen Chinese superstition. She died only a year after Ward, her parents falling out of grace with the Qing dynasty, thus completing the vicious circle.

The biography is a good read that could have benefited from some editorial cuts. ( )

This is the interesting story of someone that is practically unknown to the modern reader. He was an American sailor and adventurer who, in the most well known of his rather unknown exploits, assembled a force of several thousand Chinese soldiers, taught them a Western style of warfare and helped the Imperial Chinese government defeat the Taiping rebellion. The book itself is fairly well written and is even provided with an appendix noting the major characters and who they were in the scheme of things. This is a good addition because the reader will be challenged by the large number of names of people and places of which to keep track during the story. As noted, it is a most interesting story, but the book is only recommended to a dedicated reader who is willing to put in the effort to keep all the details straight. ( )