G. A. Henty once described himself as "a fierce and truculent Briton, ready to defy the whole world." It was an exaggerated yet appropriate description, given Henty's character and appearance. He was a tall, powerfully built man, with a large head and a long, flowing, dark beard. He was a noted pugilist and had once disarmed four stiletto-wielding Italian bandits; he was a skilled wrestler who single-handedly disposed of a gang of Irish roughs who had insulted his wife; he was a crack shot, as he demonstrated in a duel with a Spaniard who had cast aspersions on Queen Victoria. He was in many ways a personification of the military power and imperial zeal which characterized late-Victorian/Edwardian Britain. Henty's faith in the British Empire was evident in the dispatches he wrote during his long and distinguished career as a war correspondent for the London Standard; his imperial...