Oliver Warner (1)

A bit too much hero-worship of Nelson and unrealistic: calling the English sailors happy with their naval life and how it was preferable to the shore life, especially for the poor--when they would desert to America to avoid "the lash". Excellent detail of the battles, although I'd say Forester does one better.

Like Antietam in the USA Civil war, The Glorious First was a crucial battle in a long struggle. The war went on longer, but the strategy was defined from this point. For the next quarter-century, the French Navy would try to break out into the Atlantic, so as to bring in resources from abroad, (N. and S. America.) They would, of course, fail. Britain's ability to carry on the war would never be seriously challenged again. I wish the book were better written, but Trafalgar gets the ink, even show more though it was a last gasp, in comparison. show less

A well researched and written trade book on Wolfe's campaign from the British perspective with excellent illustrations and maps. With Oliver Warner's penchant for naval history, the story of the Royal Navy's contribution is not given short shrift as is usually the case in most Wolfe/Quebec campaign books.

This is a very well illustrated general introduction to important battles down the ages, beginning with Lepanto (1571) and ending with WWII. Extensive use is made of contemporary visuals and there are diagrams of the action for each battle. There are some interesting appendices including a chart showing the range of guns over the years.