Customer Reviews

Nelson: Love and Fame

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I agree with the last reviewer that Joel Hayward's book "FOR GOD AND GLORY" is much better than this book in terms of assessing Lord Nelson as a naval warrior and military commander. Hayward's book is an instant classic! It will be much discussed by Nelson enthusiasts for years to come. Buy it!

But that should not detract from a positive review of this book by Edgar Vincent, which is a more traditional biographical-type book that is very well done. Vincent does a very nice job indeed of narrating Lord Neloson's life and romances. He adds little to what we already know, that is true, but he nonetheless writes with such flair that even the well-known story seems fresh and entertaining.

This book, if a comparison needs to be made, is better than Christopher Hibbert's, and is written with more fluency than Oman's classic biography. I rate it highly.

I disagree with "Rheumor" (below) who thinks that we should not compare books about Lord Nelson. We can't (I can't anyway) buy EVERY book, so it is helpful to learn that this book, by Edgar Vincent, is not as good as Joel Hayward's in terms of original military analysis, but may be as good, or possibly better, in terms of narrating the admiral's entire life. Hayward's book, after all, is not strictly a biography. Vincent's is.

Isn't this a good distinction to note?

My advice is buy both because they both contain different things and both reach an outstanding standard.

This is not the best new book on Lord Nelson. That honour goes to a book that, because it's not published and promoted by such a lucrative publisher, probably won't sell as well as this one.

That is a pity, because Joel Hayward's FOR GOD AND GLORY: LORD NELSON AND HIS WAY OF WAR is undoubtedly the most original and thought-provoking book on Nelson written in twenty or thirty years. I strongly recommend it.

This book, by Mr Vincent, has a very different focus. It follows a well-trodden path, adding little to the view of Nelson put forward by Pocock, White, Oman and Warner. It deals with Nelson's personal life and almost pscho-analyses his personality. This can be irritating, even if Mr Vincent's treatment is generally fair.

The author knows little about the Georgian navy and the warfare of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic periods. Reader wanting to know about this should consult Hayward, White and Brian Lavery.

But as a biography, as opposed to analytical naval analysis, this book is entertaining and well written. Nelson as a man emerges from the pages as an odd little fellow, but a charming and brilliant one.

There are new works on Nelson that contain more originality--that's true. But I believe that this may be the most accessible single-volume biography and will thus probably sell well, and deservedly so, during 2005, the bicentennial of the Battle of Trafalgar. I hope so. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Even so, the book is very good and will be a nice addition to your library. My thoughts are that this book is for someone who knows nothing or little about Horatio Lord Nelson. Whereas the Nelson fan will already have read all the contents elsewhere the novice will find this a very useful single-volume overview. I strongly recommend it for those readers.

I like this book very much, even though I concede that another reviewer is right: Edgar Vincent does analyse Nelson's personality and motivations through a modern (21st century) lense.

My other complaint is that the book deals too much with the topics identified in the sub-title (love and fame) but not enough on the qualities that made Nelson the great historical figure he is. Those relate to his naval mastery. To understand Nelson as an admiral, a warrior and a hero, see the new books by Joel Hayward, Brian Lavery, Jo Callo and, for Nelson's early career, John Sugden. Remember also that the doyen of Nelson studies, Colin White, has just published NELSON THE NEW LETTERS, which is an invaluable source collection.

Now, is Vincent's book good on the stuff that I'm not personally that interested in? The short answer is YES. Mr Vincent has researched admirably and painstakingly and created a three-dimensional portrait of the little fellow that generally rings true.

Vincent's Nelson is vainglorious, passionate, complex, humane and sometimes a bit foolish. We knew all that, but Mr Vincent has depicted all these qualities and weaknesses with considerable empathy and an obvious unwillingness to sensationalise or trivialise.

The book itself is a handsome volume, one that looks as good as it reads.

In 1805, almost exactly 200 years ago, Horatio Nelson was killed just as his plans to defeat the French fleet were suceeding. Beautiful timing for a new biography that brings new light on Nelson's life.

The basics of the his life are not unknown. The interesting points addressed in this work concern things like his rise to such heights of power within the British Navy. The navy was a bastion of priveledge. The higher the social/royal ranking of a person, and the more wealth to impress one's peers the greater likelihood of promotion and power.

As the fifth son of a clergyman his rise to power had to depend on performance, fame, competance. Also there had to be hidden drives and an ability to self-promote in a manner that would not be offensive. How did Nelson rise to the top of the power pyramid? How did he get the captains of other ships, often people of higher social standing to follow his commands. The author was a senior manager at a large firm in England. He is able to analyze Nelson's life from a slightly different point of view than that of the more normal academic writer.

The result is a book that is likely to remain a classic for many years.

This is a new perspective about "Love and Fame", and so it emphasizes the women he loved. I have read other bios. of Nelson, where the authors seem to know Nelson better. Here in this bio., Vincent gives psychological explanations for the motivations of Nelson, and gets them wrong. The author seems to be a 21st-century person explaining an 18th-century man in today's terms, and ultimately not understanding him. Nevertheless, the numerous large, color pictures of Nelson and his very lovely Lady Hamilton were wonderful additions.

Overall this this a good biography about Nelson, however the author spends a bit too much time describing Nelson's private life. According to Vincent, Nelson was a compassionate and thoughtful leader at sea, but very immature in his relationships with women. Nelson had a difficult relationships with his first wife Fanny, and Nelson dicarded her in favor of Emma Hamilton who displayed the same childish traits as the Admiral. Vincent belives, that Nelson was never man enough to face Fanny over his infidelity since he constantly ignored Fanny's passionate appeals to rebuild the relationship. Vincent argues that Nelson decisively won the battles of St.Vincent, the Nile, and Trafalgar, but was saved at Copenhagen by the death of Tsar Paul I that led to the Danish government agreeing to British demands. One of the most interesting chapters of the book is Vincent's defense of Neslon's suppression of the rebels in Naples. Vincent states that Nelson was only just following orders from the British and Neopolitain governments and the rebel deaths were miniscule compared to those massacred by the French and their allies. I would reccomend this book to anyone who wants a book that describes Nelson's personal life but also includes his battles and the controversory about the Admiral's actions in Naples.

There's no need to compare one work on Nelson to another. He's an interesting enough subject for there to have been many interesting books on his life.
This one appeals to me because it is written by someone who is neither a professional historian nor an author. It must have involved an enormous "learning curve" and then even more labor in learning the complex history. I also give Mr. Vincent credit for almost never passing moral judgment on an individual whose morals were certainly flawed (oh poor Fanny!).
In any case, it's entertaining and informative and flows quite well. Nelson is so "human", so many foibles, but he truly deserves the sobriquet "Father of Modern Royal Navy".
Large scale tactical planning as well as "modern" command and control structure were instinctive to him. So too was his ability to inspire his officers and men through bravery and a sense of justice and concern that hardly existed before his era.
All England can be proud of their hero.