Make for the Hills

When Robert Thompson left Cambridge to join the Malayan Civil Service in 1938 the sun still shone on the British Empire for 24 hours a day. The outbreak of war in the Pacific found him in Hong Kong from which he was obliged to make a hurried and dramatic exit. From that point most of his working life was spent in military and political circles as one of the world's leading experts on counterinsurgency measures, on which subject he has written a number of highly regarded works. Now, with wit and modesty, he tells the story of his own eventful life, After the war, during which he served in both operations in Burma, he returned to Malaya and it was there, during the Emergency, that he gained the experience in anti-terrorist operations which was eventually to lead him, as special adviser, to Vietnam and on to Washington. En route he was privileged to meet many of the most influential and controversial figures of his time from Wingate and Templer to Kennedy, Nixon and Kissinger. His comments on these and many others, are candid and revealing. Make for the Hills is both a fascinating autobiography and an important addition to the history of the post-war world, especially that of South-East Asia.

When Robert Thompson left Cambridge to join the Malayan Civil Service in 1938 the sun still shone on the British Empire for 24 hours a day. The outbreak of war in the Pacific found him in Hong Kong from which he was obliged to make a hurried and dramatic exit. From that point most of his working life was spent in military and political circles as one of the world's leading experts on counterinsurgency measures, on which subject he has written a number of highly regarded works. Now, with wit and modesty, he tells the story of his own eventful life, After the war, during which he served in both operations in Burma, he returned to Malaya and it was there, during the Emergency, that he gained the experience in anti-terrorist operations which was eventually to lead him, as special adviser, to Vietnam and on to Washington. En route he was privileged to meet many of the most influential and controversial figures of his time from Wingate and Templer to Kennedy, Nixon and Kissinger. His comments on these and many others, are candid and revealing. Make for the Hills is both a fascinating autobiography and an important addition to the history of the post-war world, especially that of South-East Asia.