Selous Scouts - Rhodesian War - A pictorial Account - Peter Stiff

As an avid researcher/historian and webmaster (Selous Scouts website) on Rhodesian matters and in particular the Selous Scouts I find this book "Selous Scouts: Rhodesian War - A Pictorial Account" to be one of the most enlightening and entertaining, and not to academic and in-depth, which it was never intended to be. This pictorial is a coffee table size book that is superbly laid out and produced for the time. This is the sequel to Peter Stiff and Reid-Daly's book "Selous Scouts - Top Secret War" later re-released and revamped by Reid-Daly as "Pamwe Chete - The Legend of the Selous Scouts". The book has multiple photographs, diagrams and illustration on practically every page of the 175 pages in the book, probably totaling in the hundreds. The photos are predominantly black and white with a handful of color photos sprinkled throughout the book. The pictures are mostly of the Rhodesian Bush War in general with I would say one third of actual Selous Scouts photos of operations, individuals, and miscellaneous day-to-day photos of the scouts. Also I would like to note that a few of the photos are quite graphic as they portray the reality of war. This in no way takes away from the book at all. If anything it makes it more user friendly covering a wider span of information. The book covers the pictorial story of Rhodesian "elites" from before WWII starting with the Rhodesian pioneers in 1890's on through the demise of Rhodesia in 1980. Some of the highlights are the section on pseudo-operations and tracking. A lot of the vignettes are very informative but in no way as detailed as they read in "Selous Scouts - Top Secret War", again nor are they intended to be. This book is must own especially if you have "Top Secret" or "Pamwe Chete". I would also to add a plug for a new and upcoming pictorial on the Selous Scouts by Jonathan Pittaway titled "Selous Scouts - Rhodesia". I highly recommend both titles!

T.A.L.Dozer