From our friends at spartanat.com: There aren’t many books that you know are going to be extraordinary even before you open them. “Arc of the Gurkha” is one of those.
Maybe because everything about this project is extraordinary: during an embed with the US Marines in Helmand Province/Afghanistan, Austrian photographer Alex Schlacher meets the Gurkhas, warriors with a legendary history. An agreement with the Kingdom of Gorkha (today’s Nepal) in 1815 allowed Great Britain the recruitment of local warriors for the East India Company (and subsequently the British and Indian Armies). Those Nepalese soldiers have since been fighting in every major global conflict the British Army has been involved in.
Alex Schlacher’s first contact in Afghanistan is the start of a long an intense journey: she is granted direct and full access to the entire Brigade of Gurkhas and for the last 2 1/2 years, has accompanied each of their regiments and documented every aspect of a Gurkha career from the annual selection in Nepal to training, service and exercises through to retirement. She interviewed new recruits, serving Gurkhas and even World War II veterans.
The book Arc of the Gurkha – From Nepal to the British Army is the ultimate portrait of this impressive caste of warriors and it will be published in December 2014. You can pre-order for the reduced price of 20GBP (recommended retail price: 30GBP). Read the sample pages.
From our friends at spartanat.com: There aren’t many books that you know are going to be extraordinary even before you open them. “Arc of the Gurkha” is one of those.
Maybe because everything about this project is extraordinary: during an embed with the US Marines in Helmand Province/Afghanistan, Austrian photographer Alex Schlacher meets the Gurkhas, warriors with a legendary history. An agreement with the Kingdom of Gorkha (today’s Nepal) in 1815 allowed Great Britain the recruitment of local warriors for the East India Company (and subsequently the British and Indian Armies). Those Nepalese soldiers have since been fighting in every major global conflict the British Army has been involved in.
Alex Schlacher’s first contact in Afghanistan is the start of a long an intense journey: she is granted direct and full access to the entire Brigade of Gurkhas and for the last 2 1/2 years, has accompanied each of their regiments and documented every aspect of a Gurkha career from the annual selection in Nepal to training, service and exercises through to retirement. She interviewed new recruits, serving Gurkhas and even World War II veterans.
The book Arc of the Gurkha – From Nepal to the British Army is the ultimate portrait of this impressive caste of warriors and it will be published in December 2014. You can pre-order for the reduced price of 20GBP (recommended retail price: 30GBP). Read the sample pages.
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