Weep, Grey Bird, Weep: The Paraguayan War 1864-1870

Let's start with what this book is not. The back cover blurb says it is "...the most extraordinary love story of the 19th century, set against the background of the most disastrous war ever fought." Whoever wrote that clearly never cracked the cover of this book. Madam Lynch makes into the book as she should, but to describe this as a love story is total nonsense. Now, what Weep, Grey Bird, Weep actually is: it is a well researched, engagingly written history of a facinating and important period in South American history that is woefully underrepresented in english-language military writing. Roger Kohn has given us both an excellent history of the military actions of the war and a great deal of the social and political action, at least on the Paraguayan side. He follows the history with a well thought-out, dispassionate analysis of the effect of the war on Paraguay (catastrophic)and of the character of Paraguayan President Lopez (a monster who destroyed his country but was not totally without redeeming qualities - trust me on this one). Two minor quibbles. First, the book would have benefited by more maps. The movements of the various players would be much easier to follow. Second, whoever proofread the galleys did a terrible job. The text is filled with typos and extraneous letters and words. So, ignore the minor nitpicking and read this book. It will provide a gateway to deeper research. Or maybe just give you pleanty to talk about with your military history buff pals.

The poetry quotation that inspired the well-chosen title is beautiful. The author has a certain lyricism at times, and used a good number of contemporary sources in English and Spanish, plus a few modern ones. Especially interesting are the stories related by British and other foreigners living and working in Paraguay and with its foes at the time. The tale is told largely from the Paraguayan point of view, but is objective enough. This seems to be a labor of love and there are some interesting assessments at the end and sprinkled throughout. But this book needs a lot of things. The chapters have no titles to orient the reader, there is no index for the tidal wave of names and places--the geography is confusing and battles are seldom named until after they are over. There is no timeline, no list of dramatis personae, no maps or illustrations apart from a couple of cursory items at odd places in the text. The book is riddled with typeface ("1" instead of lowercase "l") and spelling errors ("bean" instead of "been"; names are inconsisttently spelled in some cases). The title is beautiful, but the write-up on the back cover a bit deceptive and will disappoint anyone expecting a romance. This story of fanaticism, exploitation, heroism, sadism, and destruction is no romance, unless you'd consider some mentions of Eva Braun here and there throughout a heavy political and military narrative a romance of WWII. Elisa Lynch appears near the beginning and at the end and flits across the stage now and then. Thank goodness I was looking for more of a political-military history and looked beyond the book's description. For the price, though, there is nothing else other than Wikipedia and two Osprey titles that tell the story of this war. I'd suggest reading this with a map from one of those other sources, and enjoy the flow, laughing off the typos, and not getting caught up in trying to recall who every named personage is or envision every maneuver. Many, many flaws, but it's still a gem of a story with plenty of atmosphere, anecdotes, and reflections to keep things interesting.

I thought this was a fascinating story brilliantly told. More so considering that this book absolutely needs a good editor or any editor for that matter. Even in light of how irritating it is to come across such typos and misspellings, the author held my undivided attention from beginning to end. What the Paraguayan people went through (due mainly to absolutely criminally insane leadership) is quite heartbreaking. But, oh boy - considering how stacked the deck was against them - those Paraguayans knew how to fight! A fine and resolute people! A sad and heartbreaking story!

POOR SUMARY OF A BIG WAR, NOTHING NEW,.YOU CAN FIND THE SAME IN ANY OTHER BOOK I IN THE SUBJECT.

Iron clads and armies of men in kepis die by the tens of thousands by advancing in tight formations in the open against earthworks and trenches that are stubbornly defended. Sounds like the American Civil War, but it is the War of the Triple Alliance that pitted Paraguay against Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay. Civil War history buffs would find this bloodiest of all Latin American wars just as fascinating. Paraguay's Antonio Lopez foolishly started this war just as the South's Confederacy had against foes that had better resources to win a drawn out and bloody war. Paraguay fought to the bitter end as the nation was put to ruin and most of the young men had died just as the Confederacy had done as well. Roger Kohn has written an excellent history of the war with interesting descriptions of the battles that makes the book a easy and fascinating read. I read the more expensive books on this topic offered by amazon, but found this to be the best written book on the topic of the Paraguayan War. My only complaint would be that there are no maps to follow the progress of the events on. Also, a 15 or 20 page color section of illustrations would make this a much better book, but I still enjoyed it very much.

The author has included an mind-boggling amount of detail; shows that a lot of hard work has gone into the project and there is a serious effort to describe the events as accurately as possible, but yet with a great deal of sensitivity towards characters who might otherwise come across as relentlessly cruel and tyrannical. I learnt more from this book than I would otherwise have known about Paraguay and the Spanish Empire in South America.

A vivid account of a quite forgotten war. Offers good information and facts about causes, events and aftermath.

This wonderful book shows exactly what's wrong with British publishing today. The story of what happened in Paraguay between 1865 and 1870 is shocking and inspiring in equal measure, yet hardly heard of outside the Hispanic world. Any publisher or literary agent with half a brain would immediately bring out this readable, beautifully-written account and provide the proper maps, index, table of contents, etc. that the self-published version lacks. But despite those shortcomings the text alone is terrific. The history of the War of the Triple Alliance has everything: a terrifying evil genius of a South American dictator (Francisco Solano Lopez) whose brave people (the Paraguayans) follow him to the bitter end. His beautiful, faithful, callous Irish adventuress of a mistress (Elisa Lynch). The British engineers and doctors who valiantly assisted Paraguay in her hour of need. On the other side, a liberal-minded Emperor of Brazil who would like to abolish slavery, but can't (Pedro II). An Argentinian President who craves great military glory, but cannot defeat little Paraguay (General Mitre). A pathetic U.S. consul who makes a terrible political situation worse, even betraying his erstwhile friends to torture and execution (Washburn)... Above all, though, it is the story of the Paraguayan people and their Guarani Indian heritage which has made them magnificently brave and stoical both in this 19th Century conflict and in that equally-unknown epic, the Gran Chaco War of the 1930s. Because the author is not, himself, South American he gives a balanced, well-reasoned account of what happened. An ex-journalist, he knows the region and has used Spanish and Portuguese language accounts, as well as the memoirs of British, American and French people who were caught up in the surreal conflict. Although the book only has poor illustrations and maps and contains several typographical errors, it is nevertheless well-bound, printed on good quality acid-free paper and as soon as you get into the text a fascinating, unforgettable read. Highly recommended.

This wonderful book shows exactly what's wrong with British publishing today. The story of what happened in Paraguay between 1865 and 1870 is shocking and inspiring in equal measure, yet hardly heard of outside the Hispanic world. Any publisher or literary agent with half a brain would immediately bring out this readable, beautifully-written account and provide the proper maps, index, table of contents, etc. that the self-published version lacks. But despite those shortcomings the text alone is terrific. The history of the War of the Triple Alliance has everything: a terrifying evil genius of a South American dictator (Francisco Solano Lopez) whose brave people (the Paraguayans) follow him to the bitter end. His beautiful, faithful, callous Irish adventuress of a mistress (Elisa Lynch). The British engineers and doctors who valiantly assisted Paraguay in her hour of need. On the other side, a liberal-minded Emperor of Brazil who would like to abolish slavery, but can't (Pedro II). An Argentinian President who craves great military glory, but cannot defeat little Paraguay (General Mitre). A pathetic U.S. consul who makes a terrible political situation worse, even betraying his erstwhile friends to torture and execution (Washburn)... Above all, though, it is the story of the Paraguayan people and their Guarani Indian heritage which has made them magnificently brave and stoical both in this 19th Century conflict and in that equally-unknown epic, the Gran Chaco War of the 1930s. Because the author is not, himself, South American he gives a balanced, well-reasoned account of what happened. An ex-journalist, he knows the region and has used Spanish and Portuguese language accounts, as well as the memoirs of British, American and French people who were caught up in the surreal conflict. Although the book only has poor illustrations and maps and contains several typographical errors, it is nevertheless well-bound, printed on good quality acid-free paper and as soon as you get into the text a fascinating, unforgettable read. Highly recommended.

Despite the defects cited by other reviewers - all of them due to incredibly sloppy errors on the production side, including a totally misleading description on the dust jacket as a "love story" - this is probably the best English language account of what was arguably history's bloodiest war to appear so far in English. The account of the origins and conduct of the conflict is concise and highly readable and citing yet again a production problem, is let down only by the almost complete lack of maps. The author deserves better and it is only to be hoped that a more professional publisher may be tempted to produce a second edition.

A great book, one of the only affordable ones that gives an insight into the War of the Triple Alliance. A war that most people in the UK will never have heard of. This being due to to the many wars the UK was involved in during the 19 Century, that fill our history books. This one was truly a disaster for Paraguay. It almost completely destroyed its infrastructure and a very large proportion of the population.

Enjoyable and well-written- historical text