DukeWacoan   | 01 Aug 2008 8:31 p.m. PST |
Any opinions on Delderfield's books (both fiction and non-fiction) covering Napoleonic era? |
| malcolmmccallum | 01 Aug 2008 9:18 p.m. PST |
Seven Men of Gascony is a fun read for bringing people into the era. It isn't literature and it isn't an action adventure story, nor is it insightful as historical fiction but it gets the job done. |
| Artilleryman | 02 Aug 2008 3:33 a.m. PST |
'Too few for Drums' about the retreat to the Lines of Torres Vedras is entertaining and smacks of C S Forester's 'Death to the French'. As with 'Seven Men of Gascony' the details are a bit awry at times but both are a good read. 'The March of the 26' about the Napoleonic Marshalate is also recommended even though modern study may have overtaken it and the style is a bit novelistic. However, it was the book that inspired me to study the period when I was a boy. |
| colbert | 02 Aug 2008 4:02 a.m. PST |
"The March of the Twenty-six" is a very good read,ælso "Imperial Sunset"(1813-14) well worth getting.
Regards, |
| pcelella | 02 Aug 2008 5:48 a.m. PST |
I love his book, "Napoleon's Marshalls". Very vivid, and it is probably the book that got me interested in the period. |
| CraigSpiel | 02 Aug 2008 7:20 a.m. PST |
Imperial Sunset was one of the books that started me on Napoleonics. Still a great, fun, read. |
 Flashman14 | 02 Aug 2008 7:45 a.m. PST |
I just finished "7 Men …" and I liked it ..very evocative and humanizes the French soldier quite well. I liked the background on the cantiniere's too … interesting stuff. |
| Bandit | 02 Aug 2008 8:38 a.m. PST |
I read Imperial Sunset when I first got interested in the Napoleonic Wars, really enjoyed his style of writing. Lately I've been keeping an eye out for a copy of my own. Cheers, The Bandit |
| 10th Marines | 02 Aug 2008 8:45 a.m. PST |
Anything by Delderfield is both interesting and a good read. However, I wouldn't recommend either his book on the marshals or 1813-1814 for research. Sincerely,
Kevin |
| Shagnasty | 02 Aug 2008 9:27 a.m. PST |
Greatly enjoyed all of his stuff I read except "To Serve Them All My Days." Not great scholarship but a good read. |
| grumbler | 06 Aug 2008 8:37 p.m. PST |
Delderfield managed to mention "The Memoirs of Baron Marbot" in every one of his works of post-Napoleonic fiction I can recall. I would rate them about on the same scale; enthusiastic about Napoleonic history, but not very objective and prone to romanticism. |
| Robert le Diable | 07 Aug 2008 11:36 a.m. PST |
As far as I know, I've only ever read "Seven Men of Gascony", and thought the most impressive thing about it was the idea of using a (fictional, I assume) sketchbook, made by one of the seven, as the starting-point for each Chapter. Nice touch about having Ney speaking with a German accent. |
