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Napoleon and his British Captives
Jul. 9th, 2011 11:43 pmLewis, M., (1962), Napoleon and his British Captives, George Allen & Unwin Ltd, London.
Michael Lewis’ Napoleon and his British Captives is the most comprehensive overview I’ve come across of the lives of British prisoners of war in France during the Napoleonic Wars. As one would expect of a late professor of History at the Royal Naval College it is impeccably researched though the writing is somewhat “idiosyncratic”. I found Lewis' presumption that all his readers are British very annoying, he refers continually to “we” rather than “the British”, though this is a minor irritation compared to his conviction that his readers are also male (e.g. “if the reader stops to consider...he will see that...”). However the subject matter is so compelling, and the research so thorough, that it is easy to tune out the author’s rather pompous tone.
( ...locks, bolts and fortresses... )
Michael Lewis’ Napoleon and his British Captives is the most comprehensive overview I’ve come across of the lives of British prisoners of war in France during the Napoleonic Wars. As one would expect of a late professor of History at the Royal Naval College it is impeccably researched though the writing is somewhat “idiosyncratic”. I found Lewis' presumption that all his readers are British very annoying, he refers continually to “we” rather than “the British”, though this is a minor irritation compared to his conviction that his readers are also male (e.g. “if the reader stops to consider...he will see that...”). However the subject matter is so compelling, and the research so thorough, that it is easy to tune out the author’s rather pompous tone.
( ...locks, bolts and fortresses... )
