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Author Topic: Book Recommendation  (Read 6832 times)

GriffinTwoSix

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on: May 26, 2020, 07:09:55 AM
Hey all,

   What are your guys' favorite books on individual battles or specific campaigns from the Napoleonic Wars?


bob48

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Reply #1 on: May 26, 2020, 07:47:13 AM
I have 'Waterloo, The Hundred days' by David Chandler which is very good. Having said that, I'm by no means big on the period (but don't tell Jim) so I guess its all a bit subjective.

“O Lord God, let me not be disgraced in my old days.”

'We few, we happy few, we band of brothers'

GriffinTwoSix

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Reply #2 on: May 26, 2020, 07:58:12 AM
Haha, same I'm normally focused on the ACW, my Napoleonic knowledge is pretty general.  I just listened to the Napoleon: A Life audiobook which was pretty decent but unfortunately it seemed to hyper focus on things like Josephine's letters and then will say some fighty stuff happened in Italy. I actually just today got the Campaigns of Napoleon which is also by Chandler!  I'll have to check out his Hundred Days book as well.


bob48

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Reply #3 on: May 26, 2020, 09:01:10 AM
Also, on my Kindle, I have 'The History of Napoleon Buonaparte'  by John Gibson Lockhart, and that is a very interesting read. I remember correctly, it was either a free download or at least, very cheap. Well worth getting  :bigthumb:

“O Lord God, let me not be disgraced in my old days.”

'We few, we happy few, we band of brothers'

besilarius

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Reply #4 on: May 26, 2020, 09:04:56 AM
My sentimental favorite is the West Point Atlas of the Napoleonic Wars by Esposito and Eating.
Discovered this about 1968 and it got me hooked on the era.
Most books have a dearth of maps.  This was because most publishers charged the author for the maps.  That's why books that cry for visual aids have so few, and these usually out of scale.

Seeing the maps, showing the sweep of the maneuvers got me.
And the text was so well written.
Marshal Brune's note: a la Brune was the French army's version of all screwed up.  His greatest weaknesses were a reputed tendency to loot and the belief he was a poet.  After Waterloo he was attacked by a royalist mob, died sneering at his assassin's marksmanship.

Duke of Wellington: bit of a toady and more of a snob.

"These things must be done delicately-- or you hurt the spell."  - The Wicked Witch of the West.
"We've got the torpedo damage temporarily shored up, the fires out and soon will have the ship back on an even keel. But I would suggest, sir, that if you have to take any more torpedoes, you take 'em on the starboard side."   Pops Healy, DCA USS Lexington.

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