West Africa: The Observational ApprenticeshipBefore Sherlock Holmes arrived on the page, Arthur Conan Doyle signed on as a ship's surgeon and voyaged to West Africa. The Boer War: Spokesman, Propagandist, KnightTwo decades after his West African voyage, Doyle threw himself into the politics of South Africa. The Second Boer War (1899–1902) radicalized his public voice: he wrote books and essays defending British conduct and soldiers. Imperial afterlives: Stories written after the Boer War often hum with anxieties about masculinity, trauma, and national honor, all themes that the war made urgent. Stories written after the Boer War often hum with anxieties about masculinity, trauma, and national honor, all themes that the war made urgent.