Book News

New books announced or recently received include a reprint by Presidio Press of George Nafziger's massive study, Napoleon's Invasion of Russia. This 660 page paperback lists at $24.95 US and includes three pages of errata owners of the original hardbound edition may appreciate.

Leo Cooper of London has released Douglas's Tale of the Peninsula & Waterloo 1808-1815, a reprint of the memoirs of Sergeant John Douglas who served in the 1st Royal Scots Regiment (available for $35.00 through Combined Publishing in the U.S.).

Rory Muir, who wrote the critically-acclaimed Britain and the Defeat of Napoleon 1807-1815, has an equally ambitious new book out through Yale University Press called Tactics and the Experience of Battle in the Age of Napoleon ($35.00 hardbound). It's a detailed look at tactics, command and control, and the various branches of military service: artillery, light infantry, etc.

Proctor Jones, who compiled the amazing visual work Napoleon: An Intimate Account of the Years of Supremacy 1800-1814, has created his own publishing imprint for books on the Napoleonic epoch. Proctor Jones Publishing will be distributed internationally by Greenhill Books. The first book is a translation of the memoirs of Baron Fain, entitled Napoleon: How He Did It. Fain was very close to the Emperor from 1806 on, an eyewitness to the functioning of the imperial cabinet.

Greenhill

Speaking of Greenhill, there are several new titles just out or soon to be released (through Stackpole Books in the U.S.), including:

    The Greenhill Napoleonic Wars Data Book: Actions and Losses in Personnel, Colours, Standards and Artillery, 1792-1815 by Digby Smith is based upon more than twenty years of research. It lists 2,000-plus skirmishes, raids, ambushes, clashes, battles, blockades, sieges and capitulations which took place in and around Europe and in Egypt from the start of the Revolutionary Wars to the end of the Napoleonic era. The chronological layout of the main entries is designed to place events within the context of the conflict in Europe as a whole and in direct relation to other campaigns. There is also an alphabetical index of the actions for quick reference. This reference book of nearly 600 pages lists for $69.95 US.

    Peter Hofschröer's controversial new book, 1815 The Waterloo Campaign: Wellington, his German Allies and the Battles of Ligny and Quatre Bras, will be examined in the near future along with the debate it has stirred in England over the charge that Wellington deceived Blücher into fighting the battle of Ligny by misinforming the Prussians as to the true location of his Anglo-Allied Army.

    While we're on the subject of Waterloo, Greenhill released Waterloo Lectures, the 32nd volume in its Napoleonic Library, a reprint of Colonel Charles C. Chesney's classic study of English, German, Belgian and French sources concerning the battle (272 pages, hardbound, $40.00 US).

    Readers familiar with Greenhill's reprint of the seven-volume series by Sir Charles Oman, A History of the Peninsular War, may be interested in a new eighth volume to complement the original work. The Biographical Dictionary of British Officers Killed and Wounded, 1808-1814 by Dr. John A. Hall and will be in the same format and a similar style dustjacket as the volumes by Oman, but with a dark green background replacing the maroon in Greenhill's previous seven books. Not a reprint, this new book is based upon exhaustive research of primary records and archives, drawing on data from service records, official dispatches, casualty rolls, medal lists, pension lists, the London Gazette and additional original sources to provide a "who's who" for more than 3,000 British, Portuguese and Spanish officers, as well as French and German officers in British pay (624 pages, hardbound, $59.95 US).

    Finally, Greenhill has started to release its Napoleonic Library series of books in paperback editions (these quality bound softcover books are called "trade paperback" to differentiate them from the cheaper mass market paperbacks such as novels by Tom Clancy, Steven King, etc.) The first Greenhill trade paperback title is The Note-Books of Captain Coignet, Soldier of the Empire, 1799-1816. Coignet's memoirs are regarded as being among the best of the Napoleonic period.

More Napoleonic Library

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