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Rating: 
Summary: devil soldier
Review: A very enjoyable tale of a colorful historical character. Carr has a real flair for bringing such a strange time to life, and making it feel familiar. He talks about the Taiping rebellion as if it only happened yesterday, which adds to the sense of reportage and realism. I'm looking forward to the reputed John Woo movie adaptation, although someone should have checked the illustrations before they were finalised. My copy prints Ward's battle-flag upside down -- doubly embarrassing since it is the right way up on the book's cover.
Rating: 
Summary: The Devil is in the details
Review: Albeit a fascinating story, the book is drawn out far longer than it should have been. I kept having the feeling that due to the paucity of extant information about Ward, especially his destroyed personal correspondence of which we are time and again reminded, that Carr had to come up with filler for certain chapters of the text. Granted, Carr did his research and has contributed greatly to memorializing the life of F.T. Ward...(in Spence's history of the Tai Ping Tien Guo, Ward is mentioned in merely a few pages). The biography is very detailed, in some respects the story sometimes gets bogged down in some of the minutia that has more to do with the period than with the person. Overall, I would recommend the book...the ending is quite interesting and ironic, and I was motivated to read more about G-d's Chinese Son and the Heavenly Kingdom of the Tai Ping.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating story of an American leading a foreign civil war
Review: Caleb Carr's portrait of Fredrick Townsend Ward, an obscure American mercenary who rose to prominence during China's bloody Taiping rebellion, offers a fascinating look at a civil war that took place at the same time as the battle between the States, but in a completely different world. A far cry from Carr's previous thrillers, his historical work is still infused with the authors' powerful descriptive narrative. Readers will find themselves immersed in the Shanghai of the 1850's and 60's as quickly and totally as Carr plunged them into turn of the century New York, awash in the quasi-Christian Taiping rebellion, a massive and bloody attempt to wrestle power from millennia old Imperial China. Indeed, the city on the Huang-Pu river is as much a character in the story as any of the soldiers, rebels, merchants, peasants and Imperial Courtiers that lived in that turbulent time and place. Using western officers, often mercenaries, to train and lead Chinese troops in the western style of warfare, Ward raised up the "Ever Victorious Army" and turned the tide against the rebellion. He led his troops into battle in scenes as gripping as any taking place half a world away in our own Civil War, using battle strategies that would have held him in high rank amongst Grant, Sherman and Lee. In doing so he was awarded the status of Mandarin, the first westerner to ever enter the upper caste of the Confucian order. An epic tale of a long forgotten adventurer that offers a window into a remarkable time and place. It's too bad that Mr. Carr's success with fiction will most likely rob us of one of our most compelling and adept biographers.
Rating:
Summary: A solid read
Review: Carr appears to make the most out of the limited resources available on Ward, although he repeatedly reminds readers that almost all of Ward's papers were destroyed.A good complement to Spence's book, Both are readable. One shortcoming of the book is that Carr used Wade-Giles for the spelling of all the Chinese names of individuals and places. While this decision is understandable considering that some of the original documents used such spelling, Carr should have included a glossary with the Chinese and/or Pinyin names so that readers familiar with the Chinese and/or Pinyin names could more readily identify whom and what Carr is talking about. He could have also put some of the sites into a modern context better.Such as that Siccawei is the site of Xujiahui and the cathedral, or that Hung Ch'iao is the site of Hongqiao and one Shanghai's airports. Finally, he missed that there is a Taiping memorial out at Kao Chi'iao (Gaoqiao), the site of one of Ward's battle sites.
Rating: 
Summary: The Yankee sailor that saved the Chinese Empire
Review: In 1859 a 28 year-old sailing officer from Salem Massachusetts took service under the Chinese Empire to defend it from mortal danger. When this young man died in battle in 1863 he had put down the largest and bloodiest civil war in human history (the American Civil War raging at the same time pales in comparison), he had been made a general and a mandarin, he had married a Chinese princess, and he was interred in his own temple. Perhaps most impressively was the fact that he did all of this while retaining the reputation among his friends and foes of being a man of decency, fairness, honor and incorruptibility. And yet for all this, he is nearly forgotten in both his native and adopted country.
Frederick Townsend ward's history was erased largely because he was feared by both his Manchu masters and by the European powers that were seeking to dismember China for their own mercenary ends. The author speculates that due to his contempt for the cruelty and corruption of the Manchu's, that had he survived, he might have turned the instrument of his "Ever Victorious Army" against them in order to restore the Ming Dynasty. Had that happened, the history of China could have far different in the century that followed. It is clear that Ward found the concept of ending the Empire as unthinkable- which is why the later republic never honored his memory.
One other thing struck me while reading this book: Ward wanted to attend West Point but was not able to obtain an appointment because he lacked "connections." In the long run this didn't seem to hurt him too much....
If this story were fiction it would surely be dismissed as too far-fetched to ever be believed.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating story of a rogue mercenary terrorist legend
Review: In this involving and well-written account, Carr strains to elevate the importance of Ward, a historical footnote, a mercenary of questionable repute and eventual Qing dynasty functionary whose prime contribution was the cobbling together of the use of "superior and modern" Western weapons against backwards sword and spear carrying Taiping rebels. And by Carr's own account, Ward was only partially successful. To thank him for his assistance (which ultimately helped maintain both Western imperial domination of China, the opium trade, and the extension of the corrupt and weak Qing empire), in a relationship of dual purpose, the Manchu Qing regime (not the Chinese people)gave him an official title and a Chinese wife. Carr's pro-Western bias is strong, as is his strange love of the Ward myth, which he does his best to overblow. Carr's sourcing is spotty, and in too many places, he speculates---typically in ways that favor Ward. This book, and indeed the Ward story itself, presents a very enlightening model of how violent rogue mercenaries, terrorists, and intelligence cutouts are used to assist governments in "counter-insurgency" wars throughout history, such as the Phoenix Program.
Rating:
Summary: A Highly Readable Look at the Taiping Rebellion
Review: The Taiping Rebellion in China was a very bloody affair. It cost the lives of over 25 million people. In addition it helped set the stage for the collapse of the Qing Dynasty and the whole Dynastic System which ruled China for 1000's of years. Though also a biography, the Devil Soldier is an interesting overview of the Rebellion and its eventual defeat. This book is much more readable than Spence's "Gods Chinese Son." Carr is a great writer, his novels are great historical mysteries of early NYC. This book benefits froms Carr's ability to write and tell a story. Anyone interesting in this time period will enjoy this book. Again it is much better than the one on basically the same topic by Spence.
Rating:
Summary: A Highly Readable Look at the Taiping Rebellion
Review: The Taiping Rebellion in China was a very bloody affair. It cost the lives of over 25 million people. In addition it helped set the stage for the collapse of the Qing Dynasty and the whole Dynastic System which ruled China for 1000's of years. Though also a biography, the Devil Soldier is an interesting overview of the Rebellion and its eventual defeat. This book is much more readable than Spence's "Gods Chinese Son." Carr is a great writer, his novels are great historical mysteries of early NYC. This book benefits froms Carr's ability to write and tell a story. Anyone interesting in this time period will enjoy this book. Again it is much better than the one on basically the same topic by Spence.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating story of a rogue mercenary terrorist legend
Review: This is a bit of a stretch for the conventional Western military history, but an excellent one. Most readers will probably think of General Ward's biography in terms of traditional 19th century nation state narratives. Let me propose a different one, the context is 'opium wars'. The story goal is defeating the merchants of opium, the English. The outcome is bittersweet. This requires the reader to do more 'reading between the lines' than usual, but the rewards are there for those interested. While the book's focus is Fredrick Ward, a true soldier of fortune, the 'Chinese drug wars' are really more central. The period covered begins with the British winning the 'Opium War'. To make sense of this, imagine Columbian drug lords defeating the US Army and demanding control of an airport in Miami. By treaty right, the Columbian drug lords would we granted the right to fly cocaine to any airport in America. If you can imagine this, substitute Queen Victoria for the Columbian drug lords and Shanghai for Miami. As should be required, the book begins by discussing hypocrisy. England's Royal navy is primarily in China to help the East India Company sell opium. The 'Christian' leader of the Taiping rebellion preaches puritanical virtues, but surrounds himself with concubines. Our hero emerges from the New England merchant class, a class that simultaneously smuggles slaves to the American slave states and finances abolitionist politics. Unfortunately, the theme is not followed throughout. The final chapter dwells on legal battles over Ward's treasures rather than the continuing twists in the drug wars and associated hypocrisy. The narrative spends most of its time on Ward's invention, the 'Ever Victorious Army' or 'Ward's Chinese Corps'. As evidence that necessity is the mother of invention, the 'Ever Victorious Army' came into existence through the whim of fortune. Western powers in Shanghai had no desire to see it emerge, since it represented a threat to the British control of the opium trade. The Imperial Chinese were to entrench in tradition to accept the innovation. It was only the existence of a 100,000 man rebel army 30 miles from Shanghai that provided Ward his 'opportunity' to build his vision. Fredrick Ward remains something of a mystery in his biography. He died in action before we could really tell what he was building. Few of his letters escaped destruction, so we rarely hear his own voice. Instead, Carr is forced to infer from events and news paper accounts. Most readers will have to overcome their skepticism about Ward's career being ample material for a full-fledged biography. In this context, Ward seems the forgotten inventor. Charles 'Chinese' Gordon won the publicity war and his buddies wrote the history books. Gordon 'China' role is limited compared to Ward. Gordon took over Ward's cross-cultural invention, the 'Ever Victorious Army', and won the army's last battle. His job was simply to maintain it long enough to win one battle, and peacefully disband the thing. For this, he gets his own big budget Hollywood movie, Khartoum, staring Charleston Heston. In contrast, Ward invents a modern Chinese Army and provides a working model to interested Japanese observers. Guess who I think more interesting.
Rating:
Summary: some light upon an obscure historical figure...
Review: who would think that a reject from west point would
rise up to the level of mandarin in china? if not for
this book, frederick ward would remain in deeper obscurity.
his epic journey from a soldier of fortune to the commander
of chinese forces against the taipings is the stuff of
movies and legends. the ever victorious army, often related to
charles gordon, is this man's brainchild. read the story
of the man who started it all. military history buffs
can not afford to pass on this book. the story follows
ward as he fought the taipings from one city to another,
leading a force that is a hodpodge of chinese, filipino
and western mercenaries. it also provides an insight
into the tangled political web between the imperial
family and the foreigners who controlled shanghai.
enjoy the book!
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