Why this book: Highly recommended by a friend of my mothers.  I was intrigued, bought it, and Mary Anne read it while I was engaged in other reading. She loved it. I was between reading group books, and decided to pick it up.

Summary in 3 Sentences: Jim Williams grew up in England, served in WW1 and signed up to work for the Bombay Teak company, deep in the jungles of Burma harvesting teak trees. This is the story of his amazing life – but most importantly of his special relationship with the elephants and the Burmese elephant handlers who were working for him. The book highlights  key events and anecdotes of his life, his special relationship to all animals, but especially with the elephants he was working with, his close relationship with the Burmese, culminating with his courageous service as a LtCol in the British Army leading elephants supporting the British Army fighting the Japanese in WW2.

My impressions: A wonderful book, beautifully written.  It is essentially the biography of Jim Williams and his experiences working in the jungles of Burma with Asian elephants and Burmese elephant handlers, called uzis.  Jim had a gift for connecting with animals in general but with elephants in particular.  The story was an inside look at the life of a British colonialist working in the Burmese jungles between the wars, but also a fascinating look at a very interesting and principled character who represented the best of what the British empire brought to their colonies, while working for a company  engaged in some of the worst of what the British inflicted on their colonies.  But the real story was about Jim Williams and the elephants.

In the introduction the author states: “…he discovered in the elephants virtues he would work to develop in himself: courage, loyalty, the ability to trust (and the good sense to know when to be distrustful,) fairness, patience diligence, kindness and humor. ‘Not a bad way to learn,’ he said, because ‘the elephant takes a more kindly view of life than we do.'”

Jim Williams grew up in Cornwall, England,  served with distinction in WW1 and then, like many adventurous young men in Victorian and post-Victorian Britain, sought adventure out on the fringes of the British empire. He signed up to leave England and go to Burma to help extract teak from the jungles.   We learn of his struggles with the old school leaders of the Bombay Teak company, how very quickly he revealed himself as a gifted animal handler.  He taught himself to do fairly advance veterinary work on his elephants, and also looked after his Burmese workers and their families. We follow him through his career, his eventual marriage to an amazing woman, his advancement to a fairly senior position – all the while staying as close to the elephants as he could, and spending as much time in the jungle as he could.

A sub-theme of the book was Jim Williams’ relationship with one particular elephant – Bandoola – who was clearly an extraordinary animal – an “alpha male” in elephant society.  The two of them shared a special connection, and drew strength from each other. Throughout Elephant Company, Williams’connection with Bandoola was one of mutual respect and admiration.

The book concludes with Williams being in charge of elephants supporting British General William Slim’s efforts to resist and then drive the Japanese out of Burma during WW2.   There is one operation in which Williams led a team of Burmese and elephants on an evacuation and overland movement that many still marvel at, which saved the lives of not only the elephants but dozens of refugees.   Bandoola was a key leader in that expedition. At the end of the war, the Bombay Teak company was finished in Burma, due to the post-war revolution that resulted in Burma’s  independence.  Williams and his family returned to Britain, where he struggled to find meaning in his life – to satisfy his love of taking care of animals and people.

The book is beautifully written. I loved the way the author tells the story -with not only understanding and excellent research, but also clear compassion for Williams, his family, the elephants and others affected by the tribulations of the time.  I have thoroughly enjoyed biographies of Victorian and post-Victorian English adventurers, such as Sir Richard Francis Burton (not the actor) and Ernest Shackleton, and Williams is cut of something of the same cloth.  Williams courtship of his wife Susan was beautifully told, and she was clearly an amazing woman herself – I just wish the author had told us more about her, and about her life.  At the end of the book I was left feeling like I was cheated of getting to know Susan Williams better.

Key Takeaways for me:

1. Jim Williams sense of adventure and perseverance were part of what helped him not only survive, but thrive in the really difficult and austere environment of the Burmese jungle.   Key strengths of his were his belief in himself, his very positive attitude, and the love he showed for the people and elephants he was working with, and his appreciation for the beauty of where he was.
2. Williams loved animals and clearly had  a special connection to them – they sensed that.  His respect for them allowed him to learn from them many of the virtues which made him a uniquely well-respected and impressive role model.

A few quotes: (page numbers from the paper back edition)

“It is impossible to understand much about tame elephants unless one knows a great deal about the habits of the wild ones,” Williams wrote.  46

From the men, there was regular talk of ghost tigers and tree and water spirits.  Williams himself often sensed that certain areas in the jungle felt hallowed, and usually he would discover that they were, in fact, holy places to the local people. To  walk these forests, he noted, one had to accept phenomena that were beyond logic. 88

<“Musth” is the condition of a bull elephant in heat, during which they become very aggressive and exhibit certain changes to their physiology.>  Bigger, stronger males NOT in musth will generally defer to a smaller one who is.  Bulls have even been observed running in the opposite direction when just catching a whiff of a musth bull. Receptive females, on the other hand, are attracted to them.  97

Like his counterparts back home, < Williams> as a young workingman, was learning to negotiate the adult world.  But here in the jungles of Burma, elephant society was his model.  He didn’t emulate middle-aged bankers or scholarly old college dons.  For him it was matriarchs and bulls.  106

Here on the bank of the river, was another of life’s lessons from the elephants that could be applied to people:  Dominance is not leadership.  From  animals, Williams said, people could learn about taking “authority without being a bully.”  129

As eager as Susan was to settle in, it would have to wait.  There wasn’t time to unpack boxes from England, as the couple were about to embark on their first jungle tour together. This is what Jim had been dreaming of for a decade: his life among elephants shared with his true love.  177