June 18, 2015 will mark the bicentennial of the Battle of Waterloo, and a number of books have been published to mark this watershed event in European history.
One of the most interesting is David Crane's Went Well the Day? in which the author chooses to examine the political, social, economic and cultural environment of Britain during the long years of the Napoleonic Wars that culminated in the victory at Waterloo.
He accomplishes this with a series of vignettes, linked hour by hour with the events of the battle on the 18th of June, that reveal the hypocrisy, brutality, corruption and injustice that festered during those long years when Britain's ruling class was fixated on the necessity of preserving their privileges from the revolutionary tide that had engulfed France and produced Napoleon. These are all the more glaring in contrast to the stories Crane presents of individual courage and endurance on the battlefield.
A fascinating look at the reality of life behind the glittering facade of the Regency period.
Click HERE to read a review from the Spectator.
Click HERE to read a review from the New York Times.
Click HERE to read the review from Publishers Weekly.
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