Nelson and the Nile: The Naval War Against Bonaparte 1798

Rating:
Summary: well balanced and entertaining
Review: I enjoyed this book because it contained a even distribution of all elements involved in the story of this historical battle. Even though Admiral Nelson was main focus of the text, other charcters (miliatry as well as civilian) were not over shadowed. The description of the historical sites and maps were fairly good, but the auther's attempt to provide original maps (mostly from French sources) made reading them difficult for those not familiar with the language. Also the print is very small on some of the maps and required using magnifying glass. However, the prints of the paintings (mostly of the ships and harbors) provided are quite breathtaking. The text requires some basic familiarity with naval terms of the age of sail for the sake of fluid reading. The battle description are very good supplemented by diagrams and it provides a excellent survey on tactics, weaponry, and overall structure and operation of the warships of the time period. Overall, I recommend this book to anyone interested in the history of the age of sail.

Rating:
Summary: A comprehensive account of the campaign leading to the Nile
Review: Lavery's book is a comprehensive and well-balanced account of the events leading up to and following the Battle of the Nile in 1798. As well as covering both British and French points of view, Lavery refreshingly focuses some attention on personalities other than Nelson, without neglecting the great admiral himself. My only complaint is the number of unnecessary typos; too many authors rely on their spellchecker to proofread. Lavery's other books are also must-reads for anyone interested in the navies of the Napoleonic War.

Rating:
Summary: Insightful book on Nile Campaign
Review: This proves to be a highly readable and well searched book on the Nile Campaign of the summer of 1798 where British admiral Sir Horatio Nelson hunted down Napoleon's French fleet and defeated it. Nelson remains the main subject of the book but the author didn't skimp on the other major characters of the campaign as well as putting his massive technical knowledge of Nelsonian navy into the context of the book and campaign. One of the more interesting elements of the book was how the author compared the activities and motives of the two major players of this campaign, Nelson and Napoleon.

I thought the book gave a very complete coverage of the entire naval campaign, told expertly by a naval expert. The author armed the book with many illstrations and maps that make reading and understanding the campaign that much easier. I thought it was one of the better books written about the campaign.

Rating:
Summary: A history more exciting than most novels!
Review: This single volume combines the story of Nelson's hamstringing of Bonaparte's Egyptian and Middle Eastern ambitions with a lively overview of the mechanics and organisation of naval power at the apogee of the age of sail. The narrative shifts rapidly between the French and British viewpoints and the technical, sociological and organisational interpolations never interrupt the flow. The tension builds up rapidly as the ramshackle French task-force heads south and east, occupying Malta on the way, and as Nelson's squadron gropes to find it, encountering near disaster off Sardinia. Correctly guessing Egypt as the French destination Nelson then heads east - but chance and mischance ensure that Bonaparte will have landed his forces and conquered Egypt before the French fleet is trapped by Nelson at its Aboukir anchorage. The description of the battle is both exciting and terrifying, and the close insights that Lavery has previously given into the characters of the individual captains as well as admirals make the reader identify closely with those involved. The idealogical differences between the protagonists run as an important, but never explicit, subtext and the contrast between French improvisation and the ruthless professionalism of the British add an extra dimension. This is history in the grand narrative tradition and it reads as easily, and as enjoyably, as the naval novels of Forrester, kent and O'Brien. A splendid read - highly recommended.