Sadly, this book is proof that sometimes a thing is less than the sum of it's parts. The essays are drawn from presented papers, speeches, and in one case the foreword of another book. There is some redundancy in the articles as they weren't originally intended to be read one after another, so some of the text in selected articles sets up the same situation as another. There are some gems, the essay on the British invasion of Egypt being one, a subject usually ignored because it was after Napoleon had left. Also the essay concerning Wellington in Spain is very good as an overview.

I would cautiously recommend this book to those who don't mind the extra content and are willing to put in the effort. ( )