When it came to factual knowledge regarding The Charge of the Light Brigade all I knew about it was that scene from the Little Rascals with Alfalfa running around the classroom with firecrackers exploding down the back of his pants while trying to recite Tennyson’s famous poem. To correct this wrong and satiate my latest hunger -information on the Crimean War- I picked up Terry Brighton’s “Hell Riders” a historical treatise on what truly happened to those who rode in that infamous charge. Mr. Brighton’s writing is succinct, easy to read, and was rife with a plethora of the information I was searching for. From the little things such as that the war was originally known as the Great War with Russia to the actual roll-call of who was wounded, who died and who survived relatively unscathed filled this reader with the knowledge I craved. On my agenda of things to do here on librarything is to see what other history books Mr. Brighton has in print, I know I’ll be pleased. ( )

Very interesting history about the famous charge. Cuts thru the myth in a very approachable and defensible way.