Colonel John Elting came to London, for the Napoleonic Fair, to launch the new revised edition of A Military History and Atlas of the Napoleonic Wars. He presented a lecture attended by over two hundred people, entitled A Disrespectful Look at Military History, in a crowded lecture theatre in which people had to stand at the back and several sat on the floor at the front. The talk was a fascinating dissertation over the whole of military history, from early warriors using rocks to attack their opponents to the latest military events. He delivered the talk with insights, wonderful perspectives and good humour. He also explored what was involved in the writing of military history, and the care required in working from contemporary sources, or contemporary writings, or maps which may have had features changed over the years, and illuminated his talk with descriptions of some of the pitfalls into which military historians can fall. After his presentation he autographed copies of A Military History and Atlas of the Napoleonic Wars, and spent the whole day circulating the Napoleonic Fair, meeting people and autographing copies of books written by him over the years. Colonel Elting had celebrated his 88th birthday earlier in the week of the Napoleonic Fair, and was a very special visitor to the event. Also presenting a well attended and most interesting talk at the Napoleonic Fair was Dr. Christopher Duffy. His talk abut Suvorov's campaign in Switzerland was full of insight and good humour. Advance copies of his new book Eagles over the Alps: Suvorov in Italy and Switzerland, 1799 were available especially at the Fair, and all sold out (Emperor's Press/distributed by Greenhill Books). Greenhill Books organise the event, which had more visitors than ever before and is now a focal point in the military history calendar. Photo: Colonel John Elting autographing copies of A Military History and Atlas of the Napoleonic Wars at the Napoleonic Fair. Back to Greenhill Military Book News No. 89 Table of Contents Back to Greenhill Military Book News List of Issues Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 1999 by Greenhill Books This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com