Three books have recently been published on Zulu history, the trio having all been written by that leading authority on the subject, Ian Knight.

The first, entitled Great Zulu Battles 1838-1906, covers ten major engagements fought throughout the period. Beginning with the Zulu failure to come to close quarters with the Voortrekker commando at Blood River, and ending with the equally disastrous action at Mome Gorge during the ill-fated rising at the beginning of the century.

Each chapter fully explores the political motives leading to the conflict as well as the strategic manoeuvring of both sides, and the course of the battles themselves are comprehensively detailed and, as can be expected from this author, finely written.

It is obviously due to the lack of written accounts that early Zulu warfare, and particularly the fascinating conflicts leading to the forging of the Zulu nation under King Shaka, are omitted. The selected actions deftly lead us through the history of emerging European encroachment and internal divisions that eventually led to the subjugation of a proud people.

Great Zulu Commanders is an excellent companion volume to the above and follows a similar format, chronicling the lives of the ten most famed leaders. The chosen subjects ranging from the founder, King Shaka, through to the last rebel leader, Bambatha, and their collective careers encompass every major event in the nation's brief and turbulent history.

Crucial internal political divisions are lucidly and easily explained and, even when having to draw on naturally biased European accounts, the author takes enormous effort to ensure that the Zulu perspective remains paramount – this is, after all, a study of their great men and great deeds.

Both volumes, published by Arms and Armour Press, are well illustrated and offer subtle and suitable slants on the 1879 campaign, as well as covering many of the less well known, but equally fascinating, battles during the upheavals of succession and civil disturbance.

To complete the trio, Greenhill Books have reissued The Anatomy of the Zulu Army in soft covers. It received admirable reviews when released as a hardback in 1995, and remains the most modern and definitive account of the rituals, traditions and workings of the Zulu army from the early beginnings to the eventual dismemberment at the end of the Zulu War. Although the most scholarly of the author's work, it remains free from academic jargon, is wonderfully detailed and an engaging insight into the actual experience, and aftermath, of warfare as faced by warriors of a great, but doomed, nation. It cannot be more highly recommended, and no military collection can be complete without it.

(Ed. Note: These three volumes are available from Ian through his web site: www.kwazulu.co.uk