{"title":"Edward Witton","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"scapegoats-of-the-empire-book-edward-witton-9781849026215","title":"Scapegoats of the Empire","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAccording to persistent rumours, the Australian government suppressed the book because its untold story of a slice of colonial history was an embarrassment to the British Empire.\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eOpens a window on the Boer War, politics of the empire, and the life of enlisted soldiers of the time. \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eGeorge Witton's \u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eScapegoats of the Empire\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cem\u003e \u003c\/em\u003ewas published in 1907; however, only seven copies of the book survived. According to persistent rumours, the Australian government suppressed the book because its untold story of a slice of colonial history was an embarrassment to the British Empire. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eGeorge Witton wrote the book to show that he, Breaker Morant and Handcock, who fought in the second Boer war as members of the Bushveldt Carbineers regiment of the British army were scapegoated by the British authorities in South Africa. They were court-martialled for the war crime of summarily executing twelve Boer prisoners of war, which they admitted. However, they claimed that they were obeying the unwritten, but widely-known take no prisoners policy of Lord Kitchener.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBoth Morant and Handcock were executed by firing squad in February 1902, allegedly to appease the Boer government in order to facilitate the peace Treaty of Vereeniging signed in May 1902, which ended the Second Boer War.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eGeorge Witton served twenty-eight months in prison, after which he returned to Australia, and wrote this gripping account.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGeorge Ramsdale Witton\u003c\/strong\u003e (28 June 1874 - 14 August 1942) was a lieutenant in the Bushveldt Carbineers in the Boer War in South Africa.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHarry Breaker Morant\u003c\/strong\u003e (9 December 1864 - 27 February 1902), a larger-than-life character, is a major figure in the book. He was born to parents who ran a British workhouse but passed himself off as well-educated and a member of the British upper class, creating romantic legends about his past. He went to Australia for the colonial experience and was variously a drover, a horseman, a bush poet and balladeer, a petty criminal and a military officer. Morant and Handcock have become folk heroes in modern Australia. Their court-martial and death have been the subject of books, a stage play, and an award-winning Australian New Wave movie by director Bruce Beresford, depicting them as Australian icons and martyrs.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49610903093521,"sku":"GOR005339480","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50401063960849,"sku":"CIN1849026211G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50566497403153,"sku":"GOR005315353","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51056141861137,"sku":"NIN9781849026215","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51510471328017,"sku":"CIN1849026211VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52848098181393,"sku":"GOR014638961","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1849026211.jpg?v=1751448144"},{"product_id":"scapegoats-of-the-empire-book-edward-witton-9781774641873","title":"Scapegoats of the Empire","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51051857150225,"sku":"NIN9781774641873","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51354991329553,"sku":"CIN1774641879G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":53362588942609,"sku":"CIN1774641879A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1774641879.jpg?v=1751279627"},{"product_id":"scapegoats-of-the-empire-book-edward-witton-9781773231730","title":"The Scapegoats of the Empire","description":"The Golden Ham, first published in 1956, recounts the career of entertainer and comedian Jackie Gleason (1916-1987) from his beginnings in show-business to the mid-1950s when he was at the peak of his early success with The Honeymooners.In his foreword, author Jim Bishop says of Jackie Gleason that when the comedian read the manuscript for the first time \"he did not ask that anything be either omitted or altered. And yet there were parts of this biography that made him wince.\" For  The Golden Ham  is candid biography. To it Mr. Bishop brought his painstaking interest in detail, his reporter's curiosity, his layman's interest in the world of the theater, and his detachment. And most important, he began and ended his job with Jackie Gleason's guarantee that nothing Bishop wrote would be censored. The result is a kind of theatrical biography that is entirely new and, like Gleason himself, is made up of a great deal of a great many things. As Bishop says: \"There are several Jackie Gleasons. I know some of them. There is Gleason the comedian. Millions know him, and he's a great talent. Then there is Gleason the producer and Gleason the writer. Some people know these...Gleason the businessman-second-rate, but he thinks he's good at it - and then there is Gleason the thinker (apt and fast) and Gleason the man (fat, out of shape, but light on his feet) and Gleason the tenement-house kid from Brooklyn (nervy and not a bit surprised that he's on top) and Gleason the lover, Gleason the musician, Gleason the moody, and Gleason the lonely, tormented soul.\" This is a book about Jackie Gleason. If you like him, it may make you like him more, or less, depending on the kind of person you are. If you never liked him, it may change your mind a little. If you never had any special attitude toward Jackie Gleason, you will have one by the time you have finished this book.Gleason, a 4-pack-a-day smoker, passed away at his home in Florida on June 24, 1987.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51628104614161,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51628105367825,"sku":"GOR013977185","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1773231731.jpg?v=1751410352"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/en-gb\/collections\/author-books-by-edward-witton.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}