Trafalgar B 英文原版
作者： Adkins
出版社：Little Brown 2005年05月
简介：
This is the true story of the Battle of Trafalgar, Britain'smost significant sea battle, as seen through the smoke-hazedgunports of the fighting ships. In an atmosphere of choking fumesfrom cannon and musket fire, amid noise so intense it was almosttangible, the crews of the British, French and Spanish ships didtheir best to carry out their allotted tasks. For over five hoursthey were in constant danger from a terrifying array of iron andlead missiles fired from enemy guns, as well as the deadly woodensplinters smashed from the ships' hulls by the cannon-balls. Whilethe men manoeuvred the ships and kept the cannons firing, the womenhelped the surgeons tend the sick or helped the boys - the 'powdermonkeys' - in the hazardous job of carrying gunpowder cartridgesfrom the central magazine to the gun decks. Trafalgar set the sealon British naval supremacy, which became the mainspring for thegrowth of the British Empire, and in the short term not onlyprevented Napoleon from invading Britain, but also enabled Britainand its Continental allies to mount the campaign that wouldeventually defeat the French Emperor: without Trafalgar there wouldbe no Waterloo.
【媒体评论】
The blazing TRAFALGAR is at least the equal of STALINGRAD inblood, pace and detail, but it also boasts a welcome twist to thegenre with a lacing of black humour INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY Masterfulin explaining why Nelson's men were so much more efficient ...Adkins has written a compelling account MAIL ON SUNDAY Well-writtenand makes good use of first-hand accounts LITERARY REVIEW[Adkins's] painstaking digging, sifting, arranging and questioningtake him everywhere on Nelson's fleet ... His account of the battleis a gripping album of snapshots from the quarterdecks and gundecks of the ships themselves ... A most eclectic but engagiSPECTATOR
