MY FATHER'S SON: THE MEMOIRS OF MAJOR THE EARL HAIG,OBE,DL,ARSA.

UK,slim 8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn.FINE+/FINE+.No owner inscrptn and no price-clip to dw/dj.Bright,crisp,clean,glossy,contemporary monochrome montage photographic illustrated dw/dj panels,separate red or black outlined white letters to front,red outlined white letters to spine/ backstrip,rear panel with white lettered captions to photographs; with negligible shelf-wear, creasing or bumping to edges and corners - no nicks or tears present.Top+fore-edges unblemished,bright and clean; contents bright,tight,clean,solid and sound - virtually as new - no dog-ear reading creases to any pages' corners,appears unread,apart from my own collation.Bright,crisp,clean,sharp-cornered,publisher's original,plain black cloth boards/covers with bright,crisp,blocked gilt letters to spine/backstrip and immaculate b/w map illustrated eps (endpapers).UK,slim 8vo HB +dw/dj,1st edn,ix-xiiipp+1-194pp [paginated] includes author's acknowledgements,a preface with author's facsimile signature,with a poem to reverse of last page of it,11 chapters,16pp of contemporary b/w autobiographical and familial photographs and author's b/w illustrations in 2 separate blocks of 8pp apiece,between pp82/3 and pp114/15 respectively,plus author's further b/w line illustrations interspersed throughout chapter 5.an index; plus [unpaginated] half-title+title pages,a dedication,and contents list/ table. Dawyck Haig was born in 1918 into the shadow of greatness and controversy; indeed it could be said he had both a silver spoon in his mouth and an albatross around his neck.At the time,his father,the Commander-in-Chief of the British Expeditionary Force,was at the height of his power and reputation.
While the Field Marshal's role has been minutely examined by countless historians,'My Father's Son' provides a fresh and invaluable perspective of this controversial figure - as family man and father.The reader,whatever his or her prejudices,is likely to be surprised.
While history has not on the whole been generous to Douglas Haig,he was,during the early post war years,regarded as an icon; it is often forgotten that his soldiers respected him greatly.
Thus,on his death,his son and heir,then only nine years old,was required not just to succeed to the Earldom,but to assume his father's place attending many memorial occasions related to the Great War.
Even the Second World War could not free the author from the burden of his ancestry.As an officer in the Royal Scots Greys,he was taken prisoner in North Africa and became,on account of his distinguished parentage,one of the Prominente held oh Hitler's orders in Colditz.As the Allies closed in,Haig's and his fellow hostages' fate was in balance, as vividly described in this memoir.
The war over and his liberty restored,the author sought successfully to express himself as an artist before his inheritance claimed him,and he was obliged to return to the Family estate at Bemersyde in the Borders.
While some may envy,and others pity,Lord Haig for the curious hand that fate dealt him,none will dispute that his life story is truly absorbing. They will also surely conclude that,whether as patrician,prisoner or painter,he has remained very much his own man.
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