1797nelsons Year of Destiny

One marvels at the detail of the exposition. I especially enjoyed the tidbits of economic detail. For example, an ordinary seaman's pay on one of HM's warships at the time was 5 pounds in 6 months. For another example, when a musketball shattered Nelson's arm in the Canaries, his medical expenses weren't fully covered by the terms of his employment. Instead, Nelson paid the surgeon (36 pounds) and, separately, the surgeon's assistant (25 pounds) their fees for removing the arm. White portrays Nelson as a most vigorous personality of supreme confidence. One thinks of Bonaparte, another unflinching character of the same era. White's portrait focuses intently on Nelson. While he presents the naval strategic context, the historical dilettante, such as myself, has difficulty remembering what these wars with Spain and France were all about. I would have appreciated more social and historical context, even if, arguably, that goes beyond the scope of the book. The lack tempted me to dock the book a star. The excellent maps, illustrations and sidebars aided immensely. White writes well (or has a good editor), so the book reads easily and compares very favorably with its genre.

This is one book that deserves all five stars! Mr. Colin White knows his subject well. Even great heroes such as Nelson had downfalls as we all do. Mr. White brings out the long ordeal that Nelson suffered after the loss of his arm and his ability to "bounce" back once his infected stump was healed & showes the humour that Nelson & his family used to overcome the tragidy. It reads so well I finished it in a couple of days. Mr White highlights information that isn't in other books on Nelson. Excellent work, Mr White.

Admiral Lord Nelson plays such a central role in British naval lore that any decent library - including those here in the USA - will have a good amount of shelf space dedicated to his career, his personality and his world. To presume to add more to an already worthy pile of volumes requires that an author has new information, takes a new focus or has something otherwise fresh and vivid to say about the man. Colin White, a Director of the Royal Navy's own museum that lies alongside Nelson's HMS Victory at Portsmouth, stylishly accomplishes all of these aims in his new book.Already a Nelson scholar of some repute, White makes extensive use of newly discovered documents, and of course well-tested older sources, to take the reader closer to `Nelson the man' than ever before. By concentrating on Nelson as a fully-formed senior commander, now on the very cusp of greatness if only he can find and seize an opportunity, White produces a relatively short, intensely readable work that nobly resists the common temptation to spend an introductory 75-pages re-hashing well-known anecdotes of his hero's early life and career. White cuts straight to the chase yet has a style of presentation that in no way would leave the Nelson novice floundering: the great man is seen in full, but not at inordinate length!In short, this book - even with its single-year focus - would make an admirable first port of call for readers who know something of Nelson's general fame - perhaps from the great naval fiction writers such as Patrick O'Brian or C.S. Forester - but do not necessarily fully appreciate `what all the fuss is about'. Readers wanting more depth will appreciate both the new material and the clarity and intelligence with which it is integrated into the known record. From growing up in an English naval family, I thought I already knew quite a lot about Nelson - now I can't wait to know from White `what happened next'!

A professional review I read of this book says that it "reads like a Patrick O'Brian novel". I would echo that. Mr White tells the familiar story of Nelson at the battles of St Vincent and Teneriffe in a new and exciting way that really brings the events to life. It is always easy to visualize the scene he is describing and his abundant use of pictures (many of them never published before) helps with this.He has also done a lot of scholarly research into original sources, many of them only recently discoved. As a result, his view of the battles, and Nelson's role in them, is very different to the traditional one in the older books. He makes it easy for the reader to follow all these new insights, by explaining them in special 'boxes;' so as not to interrupt the flow of the main narrative.This is without doubt one of those books that changes our idea of great events. If you are at all interested in Nelson, get it!