Wellington: The Path to Victory 1769-1814 Author: Rory Muir | Language: English | ISBN:
0300186657 | Format: EPUB
Wellington: The Path to Victory 1769-1814 Description
Review
'This deeply researched and brilliantly written book supersedes all previous work on the subject. A masterpiece.' - Tim Blanning, author of The Pursuit of Glory: Europe, 1648-1815
(Tim Blanning)
'A biography of Wellington that far outclasses all its numerous competitors and will be enjoyed by specialists and general readers alike: truly a splendid achievement.' - Charles Esdaile, author of Napoleon's Wars: An International History, 1803-1815
(Charles Esdaile)
"Muir's painstaking recital of facts and descriptions of battles will delight military buffs."—Lawrence James, The Times
(Lawrence James
The Times 2013-11-09)
“[E]xtensively researched and anchored in fact, [Muir] gives an invaluable picture of the duke in his early years that will be unfamiliar to many who know only of his military exploits. Muir has researched his subject for 30 years and it shows. . .[The] second volume – to judge by his first – cannot come soon enough...”—Simon Heffer,
New Statesman (Simon Heffer
New Statesman 2014-01-24)
“[U]ntil now we have lacked a modern, meaty biography of Wellington ‘in the round’. Judging by the recently published first volume of Rory Muir’s scholarly but very readable biography, that gap has now been filled. This is biography on an impressive scale. . .Without doubt. . .this first volume is a formidable achievement, already the Wellington biography for our time.”—Gary Sheffield,
BBC History Magazine (Gary Sheffield
BBC History Magazine 2014-02-01)
"The first major Life of Wellington since Elizabeth Longford's work of 1969-72, Rory Muir's biography is matched by an extensive commentary online (at www.lifeofwellington.co.uk). Muir comes to his task after long research on the wars against Napoleon, from both political and military perspectives. . .giv[ing] us an exceptional insight into the struggle, the changes that were necessary to sustain British forces, and the impact made by determined and ambitious individuals."—Chris Woolgar, Times Literary Supplement
(Chris Woolgar
TLS 2014-02-21)
About the Author
Rory Muir is visiting research fellow, University of Adelaide. His previously published books include a highly praised study of Wellington’s great triumph at Salamanca and the edited letters of Alexander Gordon, Wellington’s confidential aide-de-camp. He lives in Australia.
- Hardcover: 744 pages
- Publisher: Yale University Press (December 3, 2013)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0300186657
- ISBN-13: 978-0300186659
- Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.5 x 2.5 inches
- Shipping Weight: 3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
"Wellington: The Path To Victory, 1769-1814", the new biography of the Duke of Wellington by Rory Muir, is simply put the best biography of the Iron Duke now available. It supersedes any previous bios and is a prime example of how biography should be written. Although a massive tome (744 pages in the hardcover print edition) it is still only the first book of a two-volume set, the fruit of a lifetime's research and discovery into Wellington and his times by author Rory Muir.
As the author noted in his preface, Wellington was not, in the usual sense of the phrase, "a political soldier", but both politics and the army were intimately entwined throughout his career, from the very beginning until the end. He was a Member of Parliament before he saw a shot fired in anger; when he died (1852) he was both Commander-in-Chief of the army and an elder statesman of the Conservative Party in the House of Lords.
This has led author Muir to write a two-volume biography that is a thorough reassessment of Field Marshal Wellington's entire life from the cradle to the grave and in which three strands are constantly entwined: Wellington's own actions and perspective; the history of his military campaigns and the political debates in which he was engaged; and the way he was perceived by his contemporaries, or the history of his reputation, which was itself a significant influence on his life and actions.
"The Path To Victory, 1769-1814" covers the first forty-five years of his life. Alas, for the Battle of Waterloo (1815), Wellington's crowning glory, we will have to wait for volume two.
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