Press reviews

  “Before he was tamed by respectable Victorians, the archetypal, bibulous Briton, beloved of cartoonists and satirists, embodied all the virtues and vices of the late 18th century and the scandal-rocked Regency.”   By Adrian Teal in History Today, Volume 64, Issue 1, 2014.

  “Two hundred years ago this month, at the end of the Napoleonic Wars, Britain acquired the tiny island of Heligoland in the North Sea. Ashley Cooper and Stephen Cooper describe how, as the European rivalries shifted in the 19th century, it came to be used as a bargaining chip with Germany.”   By Stephen […]

  “Penelope Corfield provides an overview of the many recent lively and entertaining studies of 18th-century Britain.”   By Penelope Corfield in History Today, Volume 64, Issue 1, 2014.   Full article available online.  

  “In the expanding world of online resources for historical research and exploration British History Online (BHO) is a significant but sometimes overlooked presence. Its credentials are impeccable: it is run by and from the Institute of Historical Research (IHR) in London and offers free access to a range of highly reputable sources. […]   […]

  “When I was researching the history of the Economist, of which Walter Bagehot was the third and greatest editor (1861-77), I gazed in dread one day at the 15 stern-looking volumes of his collected works, gritted my teeth and began the first. Before long, I was in love.”   Read the full review of […]

  “Louis Bayard was one of the most important French spies of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic eras, who led a life of adventure, privileged access and, ultimately, treachery. Elizabeth Sparrow, whose previous book was the acclaimed Secret Service: British Agents in France 1792-1815 (1999), believes Bayard to have been ‘a double if not triple agent', […]

  Article “La ocupación napoleónica: Suchet y Valencia. Valencianos 1812: Constitución y libertades“, 2012, by Ester Alba, which gives a bibliography on the subject of Suchet and Valencia during the Peninsular War.   Available on academia.edu (subscription required).

  “Banking on victory: Simon Heffer reviews three tomes on Britain's war with Napoleon.”   By Simon Heffer in the New Statesman, 30 January, 2014.     Reviews of:   – Citizen Emperor: Napoleon in Power 1799-1815, by Philip Dwyer (Bloomsbury, 800pp, £30)   – Wellington: the Path to Victory, 1769-1814, by Rory Muir (Yale […]

  “HMS Nimrod attacked Fort Phoenix, Fairhaven, during the War of 1812. Cannons were fired. The British did not come ashore. […] The Nimrod shelling wasn't a pivotal battle in the War of 1812, nor did Falmouth residents manage to sink the British ship or prevent further raids in coastal towns. But the event lodged […]

  An article by Alastair Smart in The Telegraph, 14 January, 2014, on the painting by Manet of “The Execution of Maximilian”: “As the National Gallery sends 'The Execution of Maximilian' out on nationwide tour, Alastair Smart considers the genesis and legacy of Manet's curious masterpiece.”