In the original dustsheet. Maroon cloth binding with silver title on the spine.

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The social backdrop, vividly described, to one of the greatest battles in European history, Waterloo 1815

The summer of 1815 saw the final and desperate efforts of European powers to usurp Napoleon’s reign over France. The pivotal moment was unfolding in an age where war was a social occasion; the military urgency was matched only by the soldiers and their wives’ frantic efforts to keep pace with the lavish balls which were being thrown. The intention to deny war with frivolity persevered until 15 June, when the tension broke, and troops exchanged dance partners for weapons and prepared for battle. Nick Foulkes captures the sense of what it was like to be at the very hub of events when the fate of Europe seemed to hang in the balance.

Review: Brilliant. Exactly what I like in a story – gossipy, fact-filled, full of first-hand testimony and anecdotes. It’s not often that I say of a history book that I couldn’t put it down – and I read a LOT of history – but I could definitely say it of this book. Waterloo from the parks and dance floors of Brussels, from the letters home of the men who fought there and their servants and wives and lovers, from diaries of avid and slightly creepy spectators, and from the memoirs of the many for whom this battle changed their lives forever. The fighting is there too, but this is not a military history, it’s very much a social one, giving you a real feel for what it was like to be there, the news and mis-news, the buzz, the confusion and of course the English stiff upper lip which plays even more of a starring role than the epitome of it, Wellington. I highly, highly recommend this book.