Editorial Content for Waterloo: The History of Four Days, Three Armies, and Three Battles
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
About five years ago, I convinced my wife to take a trip to the Gettysburg battlefield. I never had been there and wanted to go, and it’s within driving distance of where we live in New Jersey. Before we left, I had her read THE KILLER ANGELS by Michael Shaara just so she wouldn’t be entirely lost when I started blatting about Devil’s Den, Little Round Top and Cemetery Ridge.
This is not because it’s the best book written about Gettysburg. Even a quick look at the top listings on Amazon tells you that there are a number of excellent, top-drawer books on the Gettysburg battle --- those by Bruce Catton, Shelby Foote, MacKinlay Kantor and James McPherson, just for starters. There are illustrated guides, battlefield companions, photographic essays, regimental histories, memoirs and novels galore. You could spend weeks reading them all. But most of us don’t have that kind of time, and if you want to read just one book about Gettysburg and get a good idea about what the battle was like, you could do far worse than THE KILLER ANGELS.
"[I]f you were going to read only one book about the Battle of Waterloo, I can’t see why you wouldn’t pick up Cornwell’s. It is an outstanding treatment of a great battle, geared towards readers who appreciate an engrossing story that is well told."
Here, Bernard Cornwell is writing about Waterloo, and chances are there’s been at least as much ink spilled over Waterloo than Gettysburg, if not more. WATERLOO is his first nonfiction effort. (A prolific novelist, he previously had written a Richard Sharpe novel about Waterloo.) The book is specifically designed for readers who may not have the most astute grasp of the Waterloo campaign, which is a nice way of saying “Americans.” It is full of beautiful maps, photos and paintings, all of which help to orient us to the action on the battlefield. Cornwell takes the time to walk us through such mysteries as the intricacies of the table of organization, the importance of the reverse slope, and the advantages and disadvantages of the cavalry charge.
Overall, the experience of reading WATERLOO is delightful --- the rough equivalent of a battlefield tour with a friendly, helpful, extremely knowledgeable guide. Cornwell’s enthusiasm for Waterloo is infectious, and he walks readers through the intricacies of the individual battlefields with aplomb. It also boasts a diverse and entertaining cast of characters, and Cornwell takes delight in introducing us not only to the principal leaders but also to the foot soldiers and artillerymen who fought, bled and died on the field.
Cornwell has a vast amount of experience in writing about Wellington’s armies, all of which is put to good use here. As a novelist, his gift is that he can reduce even the largest battle to the essential conflict --- that point on the field where individual daring and valor can change the fortunes of war. Writing about Waterloo allows him to tell the story about the big picture of the battle, putting all the different pieces into place and setting them on the field. But those big maneuvers all depend on small moments --- closing the gate of a besieged house that served as a makeshift fort, keeping an infantry square together during a cavalry onslaught, driving Napoleon’s Old Guard into a panicked retreat. Cornwell is superb at telling these stories and then weaving them back into the narrative of the battle.
It almost certainly would be wrong of me to say that WATERLOO is the best book written about the battle. Reviewers who have criticized it point out that it is not particularly scholarly or groundbreaking, which may be perfectly true. But if you were going to read only one book about the Battle of Waterloo, I can’t see why you wouldn’t pick up Cornwell’s. It is an outstanding treatment of a great battle, geared towards readers who appreciate an engrossing story that is well told.
Teaser
On June 18, 1815, the armies of France, Britain and Prussia descended upon a quiet valley south of Brussels. In the previous three days, the French army had beaten the Prussians at Ligny and fought the British to a standstill at Quatre-Bras. The Allies were in retreat. The little village north of where they turned to fight the French army was called Waterloo. The blood-soaked battle to which it gave its name would become a landmark in European history. In his first work of nonfiction, Bernard Cornwell offers a riveting chronicle of every dramatic moment.
Promo
On June 18, 1815, the armies of France, Britain and Prussia descended upon a quiet valley south of Brussels. In the previous three days, the French army had beaten the Prussians at Ligny and fought the British to a standstill at Quatre-Bras. The Allies were in retreat. The little village north of where they turned to fight the French army was called Waterloo. The blood-soaked battle to which it gave its name would become a landmark in European history. In his first work of nonfiction, Bernard Cornwell offers a riveting chronicle of every dramatic moment.
About the Book
From the New York Times bestselling author and master of martial fiction comes the definitive, illustrated history of one of the greatest battles ever fought --- a riveting nonfiction chronicle published to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Napoleon’s last stand.
On June 18, 1815 the armies of France, Britain and Prussia descended upon a quiet valley south of Brussels. In the previous three days, the French army had beaten the Prussians at Ligny and fought the British to a standstill at Quatre-Bras. The Allies were in retreat. The little village north of where they turned to fight the French army was called Waterloo. The blood-soaked battle to which it gave its name would become a landmark in European history.
In his first work of nonfiction, Bernard Cornwell combines his storytelling skills with a meticulously researched history to give a riveting chronicle of every dramatic moment, from Napoleon’s daring escape from Elba to the smoke and gore of the three battlefields and their aftermath. Through quotes from the letters and diaries of Emperor Napoleon, the Duke of Wellington, and the ordinary officers and soldiers, he brings to life how it actually felt to fight those famous battles --- as well as the moments of amazing bravery on both sides that left the actual outcome hanging in the balance until the bitter end.
Published to coincide with the battle’s bicentennial in 2015, WATERLOO is a tense and gripping story of heroism and tragedy --- and of the final battle that determined the fate of 19th-century Europe.
