Major Farran’s Hat is a well-crafted look at the ending days of the British mandate in Palestine and the terror war conducted by the Jews and British against one another. There was a vivid and untold war between the two over the needs of the emerging state of Israel. We are often told that the Jewish residents conducted a major terror war, but what we are not told is the context of that war.

It seems from Ceasarani spent a lot of time in research, because this book is a rich source of new info on the time period. The British were not the innocent victims that history now portrays them. We have all heard the story of the King David Hotel attack, but we did not hear of the roving squads of police and para-military that were kidnapping and torturing the citizens of the mandate.

Major Farran ran one such squad. He was the squad leader of a group of soldiers that kidnapped a Stern Gang member for placing posters on the lamp posts. Farran then tortured the boy and when he was finished, he murdered the lad. Not content with the murder, he disposed of the body and went home to bed. Durring the kidnapping, Farran’s hat was lost and retrieved by witnesses to the crime.

The next phase of the book covers the cover-up and eventual scam trial of Farran and the reactions of the Jewish population of Palestine. These events were on the fore-front of the news as Britain lost the ability to govern the mandate and lost the support of all sides in the region. The book is an interesting look of the back room deals and political cowardice that came to symbolize the fall of the British Empire.

Major Farran’s Hat is a great read, a mystery and history of a little told story. It goes a long way to explain the current discord of Israeli and UK relations, as well as the anti-Semitism of the BBC.