Caplan, L; Warrior Gentlemen: "Gurkhas" in the Western Imagination. Berghahn Books, Oxford, UK/Providence, USA.
The relationship between the Kingdom of Nepal and the United Kingdom is unique. Over and above Nepal being Britain's oldest Asian ally with especially warm ties - and the first (and only?) Asian non-Commonwealth country to be visited twice by any British head of state - is the Gurkha Connection, that especial bond of comrades-in-arms that breeds an empathy most civilians can never understand.
Part of Caplan's treatment of this absorbing subject is by use of his main discipline, anthropology, larded with discerning comment on his own experiences in Ilam and elsewhere among ex-soldiers. With enormous reading that he has undertaken, allowing quotations and erudite observations, his presentation has great depth, with unusual and very interesting slants.
