Waterloo: the History of Four Days, Three Armies, and Three Battles

Publisher Marketing: From the "New York Times "bestselling author and master of martial fiction comes the definitive history of one of the greatest battles ever fought a riveting nonfiction chronicle published to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Napoleon s last stand. On June 18, 1815, the armies of France, Britain and Prussia descended upon a quiet valley south of Brussels. In the previous three days, the French army had beaten the Prussians at Ligny and fought the British to a standstill at Quatre-Bras. The Allies were in retreat. The little village north of where they turned to fight the French army was called Waterloo. The blood-soaked battle to which it gave its name would become a landmark in European history. In his first work of nonfiction, Bernard Cornwell combines his storytelling skills with a meticulously researched history to give a riveting chronicle of every dramatic moment, from Napoleon s daring escape from Elba to the smoke and gore of the three battlefields and their aftermath. Through quotes from the letters and diaries of Emperor Napoleon, the Duke of Wellington, and the ordinary officers and soldiers, he brings to life how it actually felt to fight those famous battles as well as the moments of amazing bravery on both sides that left the actual outcome hanging in the balance until the bitter end. Published to coincide with the battle s bicentennial in 2015, "Waterloo "is a tense and gripping story of heroism and tragedy and of the final battle that determined the fate of nineteenth-century Europe." Review Citations: Kirkus Reviews 03/01/2015 (EAN 9780062312051, Hardcover) Library Journal 03/15/2015 pg. 118 (EAN 9780062312051, Hardcover) - *Starred Review Publishers Weekly 03/23/2015 pg. 63 (EAN 9780062312051, Hardcover) Publishers Weekly 04/13/2015 (EAN 9780062312051, Hardcover) Shelf Awareness 05/19/2015 (EAN 9780062312051, Hardcover) Contributor Bio:  Cornwell, Bernard Bernard Cornwell is the author of the acclaimed New York Times bestsellers 1356 and Agincourt; the bestselling Saxon Tales, which include The Last Kingdom, The Pale Horseman, Lords of the North, Sword Song, The Burning Land, Death of Kings, The Pagan Lord, and, most recently, The Empty Throne; and the Richard Sharpe novels, among many others.