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The Elite

The Story of Special Forces – From Ancient Sparta to the Gulf War

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The Elite

By: Ranulph Fiennes
Narrated by: Peter Noble
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Inspired by the heroic war time escapades of his father, as well as drawing on his own experiences in the special forces, acclaimed adventurer Sir Ranulph Fiennes thrillingly explores the history of elite military units, from ancient Sparta to the War on Terror.


Elite military units have frequently been immortalised on the big screen, and in computer games, for their daring deeds. Whether it be fighting on the battlefield, storming castles, rescuing hostages, high stakes reconnaissance missions or the assassination of enemy leaders, these are the men who are relied upon to undertake dangerous missions of the highest stakes. While celebrating the heroics of groups such as the SAS and Navy Seals, Sir Ranulph also reveals the true stories of infamous organisations such as The Assassins and Templar Knights. Uncovering their origins, and examining their weapons and tactics, Sir Ranulph showcases these units most famous missions, and reveals the men behind them. Showing incredible courage, these units have also changed the course of history along the way.


While these units traditionally prefer to operate in the shadows, Sir Ranulph brings their remarkable histories to the fore, told with his trademark ability to weave a story which has seen him become one of Britain’s most beloved bestselling authors.©2019 Ranulph Fiennes (P)2019 W. F. Howes Ltd Military War
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enjoyed this book from start to finish would recommend this even if you don't like the military.

excellent book

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Felt almost like a compilation of Wikipedia pages about some of history's better known crack soldiers (Wikipedia level is great for initial level but felt this book would offer more).

Continual references to "I myself know what this was like" is an attempt to provide authenticity from the definitely hugely impressive life of the author but it just came across to me as bragging... The reader while excellent for this just made it sound all the more smug if you don't like it!

Lots of the units didn't really feel like special forces in the way the SAS or SEALs do, so much as a standard army unit (E.g. The Mongol hordes - different to European counterparts but not specialist units within Genghis Khan's ranks and the Battle of Britain was just the author waxing about a moment of national pride). The choice of forces also felt Anglo centric making it hard to claim the book is objectively a history of special forces. Most are firmly British, American, or those glorified in British British popular culture. The author is a figure of the British establishment so this isn't exactly surprising, it just makes the book read less as an analytical history and more as "here's a bunch of types of soldiers across time that I really wanted to be part of growing up".

But I listened to the whole book and did find the history interesting, so it's clearly got something to it and it's easy to do a hatchet job on someone else's work. I myself have just done one.

Somewhat interesting but feels like bragging

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Taking us from early historical times through to the 21st century, this fascinating book, embellished with personal anecdotes, outlines the way special forces have developed through the requirements of particular circumstances for a small, highly trained unit to perform specific operations. Well read and engaging!

Great overview of a fascinating subject!

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It seems that Ranulph Fiennes is incapable of writing a dull book; this account of elite forces is another gem. Fiennes examines the history of each unit, and gives details of one key engagement (for example, the Iranian embassy hostage crisis in the chapter on the SAS). Fiennes combines historical sources with his own personal experiences of operating under similar circumstances. While some of his personal anecdotes can seem a little tangential, they are a valuable first-person addition to the book. Peter Noble's narration is unobtrusive, if sometime stilted (though not enough to lose his performance a star). Most chapters are around 25 minutes long, which makes for comfortable listening. Highly recommended for military history fans or general admirers of derring-do.

Another winner from Sir Ranulph Fiennes

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Was ok but he Shoehorns his own stories into literally every single chapter. I know you had to pull a 450lb sled In the arctic , you already told me 2 chapters ago. If I wanted to read that I’d have bought one of his other books .

Meh

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