Dear readers,
I have been reading about military history and Napoleon for almost forty years, and I can tell you that I’ve never encountered a book quite like the one I’ve just written about Borodino. To be perfectly candid, that’s something of a mixed blessing. It’s got some unique strengths, and it’s got some weaknesses. To dispense with the weaknesses first, it is a short book (36 pp) and I am not a scholar of the battle — so this is not an authoritative narrative of what happened. What you do get in this book that is pretty cool is the following:
* Beautifully printed full-color pages with many full-page images of the battle and the battlefield. If you take pleasure in flipping through stylish color picture books–as I do!–you should enjoy browsing through this visual treatment of the battle.
* Interesting encounters with carefully selected primary sources that describe some of the battle’s key moments. Frankly, I found as I read for this project that the personal memoirs written by participants in the years immediately after the fall of Napoleon were often a lot more interesting than the modern "who marched where" military histories. I like the emotional side of military history, trying to imagine what it felt like to be there.
* A thought-provoking argument about why Borodino matters in the shadow of today’s conflicts–particularly Iraq. I don’t expect everyone to agree with everything I write, but I’m putting the arguments out there to provide a fresh perspective.
The elements of this book, considered together, are an experiment, a new format for writing about military history. I don’t expect everyone to love everything about it, but I am confident that many people who are interested in military history and the Napoleonic era will find this an interesting addition to their bookshelf.
Cordially,
Fred Zimmerman
Publisher, Nimble Books LLC
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