On The Napoleonic Wars is a collection of essays spanning the whole of the period. These woks have appeared as lectures, articles and essays during Dr Chandler's career, and are to be published in January 1994 by Greenhill, price 17.95. These papers cover the many aspects of the period, from the origins of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, to the Egyptian Campaign of 1801, the Napoleonic Marshalate, and a chapter entitled 'Wellington in the Peninsula: a Reassessment'. I found the section on 'Column versus Line: the Case of Maida, 1806' to be a particularly interesting study of the reasons why the British line was succesful against French columns. There is something for everyone in this book, including an examination of particular battles such as Marengo, Sahagun and Borodino; and studies of Wellington's use of the Spanish Guerillas, and the Russian Army at war in 1807 and 1812.

The book is very much a testimony to Dr Chandler's wide-ranging studies of the period, and includes a comprehensive bibliography plus a biography of the author. This is one to add to any serious collection of books on the Napoleonic Wars, not only for the information and studied opinions on the subjects contained therein, but for the thought-provoking that each chapter instils as you read it.

Greenhill publishes a wide-range of books covering all periods of military history. Their publication plans for 1994 include; Napoleon's Generals: The Waterloo Campaign by Tony Linck (published by the Emperors Press and distributed in this country by Greenhill) and Napoleon at Bay, 1814 by F.Loraine Petre. One recent publication that includes some Napoleonic material is British Artists and War by Peter Greenhill have recently made available again Wellinqton's Army, 1809-1814 by Sir Charles Oman, price 19.50. This is a very useful book to have on your shelf.

Greenhill distributes books for a number of other publishers, including the Emperor's Press who have recently produced Campaigning with the Duke Of Wellington & Featherstone by that veteran author and wargamer Donald Featherstone. This is a guide to the battles in Spain and Portugal, with the author, the Duke of Wellington, and all the others, 1808-1814 and 1973-1992! Price.£ 27.50.

Arms and Armour Press have published Waterloo - New Perspectives: The Great Battle Reappraised by David Hamilton-Williams, priced at £ 20.00. This book looks at the battle using previously unpublished Siborne letters.

If your interest is in the navies of the period, then Conway Maritime Press have recently produced one for you. The Sailing Navy List lists all the ships of the Royal Navy built, purchased and captured from 1688 to 1855. It represents the fruits of twenty years' research by David Lyon, and is priced at 60.

While still on the subject of the Royal Navy, you may recall that in an earlier edition of NN&Q I mentioned a project being undertaken by The Nelson Society entitled In Search of Nelson's Men. The aim was to seek out any information about the men who fought at Trafalgar, and details of their lives and final resting places. The results of this project are to be published by the Society in the Spring of 1994. Details will be published in this column in due course. I have received a review from Dave Hollins, the everactive Co-ordinator of the Napoleonic Association's Austrian Study Group. He has offered this review of a book that was first published in 1989, namely, Dreams of Empire: Napoleon and the First World War by Paul Fregosi.

This is a very different work taking as its subject Napoleon's hopes for global power outside of Europe, with the subplot of how British seapower thwarted him. Intended as a summary of 26 years fighting, this work is of value for drawing together the many strands of the conflicts outside Europe into a coherent whole. In between brief chapters on Toulon and Waterloo, the geo-political background and respective strategies which gave rise to so many disparate events are explored (how often this gets forgotton in the obsession with uniform details and battles), to cover everything from the 'White Man's Grave' in the Caribbean through Egypt to the Far East. 'Forgotten' British calamities, notably in 1807 in South America and Turkey, also find space alongside the dawning of American power. Details of a plethora of colourful characters, including the obscure activities of many familiar personalities, enlivens the historical narrative to produce an enjoyable and thought­provoking book, albeit a little too journalistic in style.

Most material is drawn from secondary sources and there are no footnotes, which makes establishing its accuracy difficult; careless errors in references to the European down-playing of French excesses, and a certain sneering at the British! Worst are the 'moral' judgements on early 19th century colonial actions from a late 20th century perspective.

This book is now available from Partizan Press. It is an interesting read at a knockdown price of L6.99, with plenty of subjects for further research, especially for nautical and political enthusiasts.

David Ruck has supplied the following review of Marengo and Hohenlinden by Colonel Furse, a facsimile reprint of the 1903 edition.

This two volume set weighs in at approximately 480 pages in total at 17.50 per volume. The first volume deals with the events leading to the Battle of Marengo including Massena's heroic defence of Genova, Napoleon's crossing of the Alps and Moreau's crossing of the Rhine. The second volume goes briefly over the smaller battles in Italy and Germany, and the battles of Marengo and Hohenlinden in detail. Together they cover a large amount of background detail of 1789-99 and the entire 1800 campaign in Italy and Germany in depth.

The books are, unsurprisingly, biased towards the French with the main emphasis on Napoleon's Army of the Reserve. The author covers the political, logistic and intelligence background as well as the battles of the campaign detailing such subjects as intercepted orders. Several useful maps are included, but no detailed orders of battle for the Austrian forces. There is no bibliography, but from the footnotes it appears to be based upon memoirs and the Revue Militaire Austrichienne.

This is a fascinating account covering an area of the early Napoleonic Wars which is often neglected, especially the campaign in Germany. It is a shame that the price is so high as this is sure to put most people off. Whether the books are worth the asking price alone is dubious and for this reason alone, I would be loath to recommend them.

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