Mr. Cornwell,

I’m currently working my way through the adventures Richard Sharpe (I just finished Sharpe’s Triumph) and I have been really struck at the way Richard and his fellow enlisted soldiers do not seem to have a firm grasp as to why, politically speaking, they have been sent to India to fight.  I recognize that not going into the politics of the British subjugation of India leaves you a lot more room to tell Sharpe’s story, but I’m left wondering if this attribute of Sharpe’s character was purely an artistic choice, or if in fact it was common for British enlisted soldiers abroad in the 19th century to have little to no understanding of the political machinations that led to their deployment?

Michael LaFreniere