“La Grande Armee”, by Georges Blond, Translated by Marshall May

544 pages, Arms & Armour Press, ISBN-13: 978-1854092526

In La Grande Armee, Georges Blond takes the reader with Napoleon and his men as they march from Boulogne to Waterloo with a completeness that one would expect from an autobiography. The book describes the day-to-day life and death in the army of the Empereur des Français with all the detail of a conversation with a grizzled veteran at a Parisian café. Mr. Blond provides character sketches of some of the leading historical figures of the time that illustrate motive, desire and fault. His descriptions of the Peninsular War and the retreat from Moscow vividly illustrate the suffering and horrors of war in the Napoleonic era.

The author’s in-depth treatment of the medical services is most enlightening, describing the frightful lot of the wounded in gory detail. The reader cannot avoid having an increased respect for the physicians Rene Desgenettes and Jean Larrey. Touching on the political, personal and military histories of the period, the book provides the reader with a unique vantage point from which they may view battles like Austerlitz and Waterloo in a new light. The descriptions of the campaigns and battles avoid tactical details while providing sweeping descriptions that answer many of the how’s and why’s of the conflicts events.

With the chronology, maps and statistics included in the appendixes, this book will become a valued addition to the library of any student of the Napoleonic era. Blonde has written a superb tour de force in a style which makes one think you are reading a novel and transports you to the battlefields of the Napoleonic Wars. One learns a plenty of the lot of the common soldier and meets characters such as Murat, Ney and other lesser-knowns. All-in-all a brilliant history without the boring prose of some better known history books!

“The House of Rothschild, Volume 2: The World's Banker, 1849–1999”, by Niall Ferguson

608 pages, Viking, ISBN13: 978-0670887941

Ferguson is not only publishing massive works of history at an astonishing rate; he is publishing well-written and controversial books. The Pity of War caused a stir by arguing that Britain bore the brunt of the blame for WWI. The completion of his two-volume history of the Rothschild banking empire begins at a high point of wealth, power and civic involvement, with Benjamin Disraeli a close family friend and Lionel Rothschild playing a leading role in gaining Jews the right to sit in Parliament. The book ends with the post-WWII rebuilding of the Rothschild's into a far-flung "mini-multinational". Drawing on thousands of letters from private Rothschild archives, Ferguson does a masterful job of showing how the Rothschild financial empire interacted with the governments of Europe. His account is peppered with countless refutations of previous interpretations and analyses. Yet the larger historical picture is often blurred as Ferguson furnishes blow-by-blow accounts of, for example, the French Rothschilds' ultimately successful decades-long battle against the Cr dit Mobilier. Readers will be left wanting more analysis of the larger sea change that consigned the Rothschild style of private banking to its current secondary status. And while he follows the senior partners in Britain and France (other houses, in Naples, Vienna and Frankfurt, either closed or simply receded from Ferguson's view), Ferguson sticks to their public deeds and roles, rarely venturing into the personal or the psychological. Still, this history is teeming with soundly argued expositions on the role of a singularly important family.

“The House of Rothschild, Volume 1: Money's Prophets, 1798–1848”, by Niall Ferguson

688 pages, Viking, ISBN13: 978-0670857685

The first historian with access to the long-lost Rothschild archive, bestselling author Niall Ferguson offers a myth-breaking in-depth portrait of one of the most fascinating and powerful families in Europe in The House of Rothschild, Volume 1: Money's Prophets, 1798–1848. Hidden for nearly 50 years in the KGB's special archive, the uncovered records cast new light on the banking family's rise to preeminence. With the help of Hebrew scholar Mordecai Zucker, The House of Rothschild also reflects the first major translation of important and revealing intrafamily correspondence in the Judendeutch dialect. In a vast undertaking, Ferguson has synthesized material from over 20 different archives and 20,000 letters, as well as other historical sources, and produced an exceptional (and readable history). Ferguson follows the founders' five sons in their rise to power as pioneers of modern business communication, creators of the international bond market, and the financial force behind many political events of the time. A family saga as well, Ferguson reveals the true nature of the family's relations with one another and with most of the important politicians and monarchs of the time, as well as their profound connection to the Jewish community. A major book, "The House of Rothschild" is the definitive account of one of the most important firms (and one of the most exceptional families) in modern history.