- Hardcover
- Publisher: The Folio Society; Reprint edition (2008)
- Language English
- ASIN: B001G9H14C
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 3,082,904 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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First Sentence
In May 1803, the gardens of Merton Place, an elegant country house in Surrey to the south-west of London, were at their best. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
In May 1803, the gardens of Merton Place, an elegant country house in Surrey to the south-west of London, were at their best. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Tom Pocock has assembled a wonderful collection of eyewitness accounts of the battle of Trafalgar.
There are a lot of excellent books about this battle, but this is certainly one of the better ones. Pocock has organised the accounts he quotes into a narrative which hangs together very well. It also gives those of us who have been fortunate enough never to have been within a hundred miles of a real battle about as good an understanding of what it must have been like to be there as we have any chance of attaining.
Very strongly recommended.
There are a lot of excellent books about this battle, but this is certainly one of the better ones. Pocock has organised the accounts he quotes into a narrative which hangs together very well. It also gives those of us who have been fortunate enough never to have been within a hundred miles of a real battle about as good an understanding of what it must have been like to be there as we have any chance of attaining.
Very strongly recommended.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is a wonderful little book. Tom Pocock has marshalled Admiralty transcripts, minutes, sailors letters and newspaper reports to create a concise and highly succinct book about the prelude to the great sea battle, its course and its aftermath. But what gives this book added depth are that similar French sources are used thus giving a richness to the human experience that might have been lacking in a less generous essay.
Naturally, much of the focus is on Nelson himself but not to the exclusion of other principal characters most noteably Vice Admiral Collingwood whose vessel initially breached the french/Spanish line. On occasion the tales of derring-do and conduct becoming of gentlemen - 'tis but a fleshwound'- lean towards the Pythonesque but, even handed as ever, Pocock shows that bravery was not the sole preserve of the English.
Pococks narrtive interventions are kept to a minimum thus letting the documents speak for themselves and tell the story; in fact they are in a less intrusive lower case.
It is no wonder that the English refuse to forget Nelson or Trafalgar. Without that decisive, bloody, bloody battle England would have lost control of the seas and England could well have fallen to Napoleon's armies assembled on the French coast and the monumental course of Britains history - think of The Empire - would not have been so.
It's too much to hope, I think, given that Britain has a particularly myopic and anti-history New Labour government who would, no doubt, want to apologise to France for all the ships we sunk, but this is a part of British history that surely every school child should be taught. And for those of who had forgotten just what the battle of Trafalgar on the 21st of October 1805 came to mean then we could have no better a reminder than this justifiably classic book.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
2 reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Through the eyes of those who were there
27 April 2006
Format:Paperback
This book is a masterfully edited compilation of eyewitness accounts of the Battle of Trafalgar released for the bicentennial of the battle in 2005. The descriptions of events leading to, during and after the battle range from letters written by Admiral Nelson himself to accounts by simple seamen. Taken together they reveal a horrifyingly bloody battle characterized by the incredible courage under fire of the seamen involved. Gallant acts towards the wounded, both friend and foe, abounded, both during the battle and the storm that followed. On the whole this is a necessary addition to the library of any fan of naval history. The only problem is the loss of clarity that comes from not having a single narrator tell the tale from a historically removed vantage point.
TRAFALGAR
9 Jan 2010
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Very good combination of first hand accounts and guidelines from historians. PURCHASED AT AMAZON.
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