Reviews
‘Wonderful, illuminating, and astute. Not just a military history, Tank is a tour de force, a cultural history of our dreams and delusions.’
– Simon Schama
‘The publisher’s blurb states, “Tank is not a conventional work of military history.” Amen to that.’
– John Keegan, Times Literary Supplement
‘Wright liberates military history from the military experts’ blinkered view . . . We should all be deeply grateful that he has done us the favor of pouring so much into this rich, fascinating, definitive book.’
— Bruce McCall, The New York Times Book Review | Read full review here »
‘Not only tells the history of a “monstrous war machine” . . . but discusses in elegant and—yes—entertaining prose the symbolism of the tracked and armoured fighting vehicle.’
— Jan Morris, The Observer (Books of the Year)
‘Fascinating.’
—Peter Wollen, London Review of Books | Read full review here »
‘A fascinating sideways look at the history of twentieth-century warfare and politics through one of the most potent symbols of destruction and power.’
— Will Self, The Times
‘[A] wide-ranging and lively history . . . Wright has assembled a prodigous saga . . . This witty, trenchant and engaging chronicle of the tank and its century is, indeed, something more instructive and astonishing than anything H.G. Wells ever dreamed of.’
— Chris Lehman, The Washington Post
‘Wright’s book is an excellent military history . . . written in a lively prose and with a wealth of unfamiliar detail.’
— Gordon A. Craig, The New York Review of Books
“Wright’s exhaustive research offers a treasure trove of facts usually eclipsed in conventional military or technical histories . . . Wright brings vital social and microhistorical data to military history and fleshes out the story of one of the twentieth century’s most powerful, destructive and highly symbolic creations.’
— Publishers Weekly
‘Particularly delightful for readers interested in military history, but Wright’s witty prose and careful cultural analysis will also appeal to general readers.’
— Kirkus Reviews
‘Wright’s ruminative narrative will rivet readers with its hybrid melding of military history with literary and popular writing on the topic. A sophisticated yet highly accessible book.’
—Booklist
‘Well-informed and entertaining.’
— Angus Calder, The Independent
‘Remarkable and provocative . . . One of the great pleasures in reading Wright is to be constantly delighted by his virtuosity as a writer . . . [ Tank] should be read by all who remain fascinated by what Wright calls “the symbolic power of the machine.”’
— Joe Kerr, Tate magazine
‘Unexpectedly illuminating, challenging and broad-ranging… Wright is acerbic, combative, powerfully perceptive … and his long, hard look at this modern Behemoth, both fascinated and appalled, is utterly compelling.’
— Chris Hart, Amazon.co.uk
‘Provocative and insightful… an extraordinary book.’
— Ed Voves, The Philadelphia Inquirer
‘Wright is superb in evoking the metal monster we associate with “tank.”’
— Lee Gaillard, The San Francisco Chronicle
‘A completely fascinating history: shrewd, wry and fiercely intelligent.’
— William Boyd
‘Hugely enjoyable … An immensely readable, well researched book, filled with interesting detours, unusual stories and idiosyncratic discussions relating the tank to philosophy, religion, art, politics and even necromancy…. A highly useful source of amusing and iconoclastic material with which to challenge orthodox military thinking.’
— General Sir Michael Rose, The Times (London)
‘An erudite and witty book…. What makes Wright’s study so compelling is that this is not just a book for military hardware enthusiasts, but a work rich in character studies and anecdotes which carefully places the changing status ofthe tank in contemporary perception.’
— Peter Beaumont, The Observer
‘Richly researched and brilliantly written . . . [Wright] has not been seduced by the subject ofhis biography, as biographers often are. He is plainly fascinated and repelled at the same time.’
— Richard Overy, Sunday Telegraph
‘An extraordinary achievement… Patrick Wright transforms what in lesser hands would have been a plodding piece of military history into a text that dances with verve and interest on every page.’
— James Le Fanu, The Tablet
‘Patrick Wright is a living national treasure of a rather weird variety: a historian who uses the imagistic logic of a fiction writer in the service of explanation, drawing out the many-sided truth of the past by letting unexpected connections form.’
— Francis Spufford, The Evening Standard