Lesley Adkins

I found this book at our library's book sale and ran, giddy, over to the cashier and demanded they take my money right away. I love history, I love Ancient Egypt and I was certain I was going to love this book. Little did I know I was going to more than love it, though I don't at all know how to best describe my extreme joy in turning each page. Typically books about history read like history books, text books, or maybe have a little drama in them, but this book read almost like a mystery show more waiting to be solved, which is exactly what hieroglyphs were at the time, making the all around perfection of this writing even more of a surprise considering the subject. Do not expect a dry rambling when you pick up this book, expect adventure! Also, make sure you pack a pencil and paper along as you journey through time because this book made me realize there were many other things I wanted to read about Egyptian Hieroglyphs, the Ancient Egyptian language and writing style, and the history of rediscovering the language itself. As a result of loving this book, I have added many more to my shelves. It isn't every day that you say you will read a nonfiction work again, but I most certainly will reread this one! show less

This book treat's Napoleon's career as parallel to and spurring on a global war largely sustained by continuous naval action. Bookending this compelling narrative that includes the War of 1812 and the capture of the U.S. Capitol, is the really thrilling life story of Admiral Sir William Sidney Smith. It is of this British naval officer of whom Napoleon Bonaparte, reminiscing later in his life, said: "That man made me miss my destiny". Escaping French imprisonment with the help of royalists, show more destroying more French ships than Nelson, and frustrating Napolean's East empire dreams on land at the Siege of Acre (1799), Smith deserves all the attention paid in this book.

Another fascinating dimension to this military history is close look inside battles, prison ships, and daily naval life from primary sources such as seaman journals and letters. One thing that jumped out at me in this book is that French officers in military then considered it an affront to their honor to even assume they would try to escape when they became POWs and could be entrusted to stay in a hotel, pay their bills (support themselves) and even not take advantage of freely roaming the city. (I am talking about officers here, not the unfortunate enlisted me crowded onto hellish prison ships.) Of course, in a later century French officers would be expected and even praised for heroic escape and stealing prison camp material to dig tunnels and craft crystal radio sets.

The book also heightens my enjoyment of Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World set in this era and where it says that all the oceans are a "bsttlefield". The youth of officers, there behavior in battle, and the far-flung engagement with the French detailed in this book are brought to life in that movie. show less

A difficult book to read in its entirety. The opening chapter with Rawlinson precariously balanced on a ladder spanning a narrow path hundreds of feet up the cliff face was magnificent atmosphere. The following chapters were detailed reports of all the minutiae of young Henry's life and his unpleasant sea voyage to India. I abandoned the story at that point and cannot in all fairness assess the rest of the book, since I skimmed and read only the parts that captured the same sense of show more audacious adventure as the beginning. Such an intrepid historian and explorer deserved a better biography, though readers with a strong interest in cuneiform discoveries and translation will be pleased. show less

Fascinating story of the longest siege in British history. From 1779-1783, while Britain was absorbed fighting pretty much everyone in the known world, the Rock was besieged by Spanish forces, who built impenetrable fortifications bristling with guns across the isthmus and attempted (unsuccessfully) to cut off all access by sea. The inhabitants of the Rock, officers and soldiers, their wives and families, Jewish merchants and local peasants suffered bombardment, starvation, scurvy, disease, show more attacks from the sea and the perceived indifference of London. Yet they remained unbroken, even seeing off an attack by massive floating batteries that the French and Spanish were convinced would end them. Very much a social history as much as a military history, the book relies on the words of the inhabitants themselves, as many wrote letters and kept diaries. Great piece of writing about a little-known piece of history. show less