Nelson: A Dream of Glory - Hardcover

"A masterpiece... The flagship of the fleet, it leaves all others trailing in its wake" (Neil Hanson Sunday Times)

"A magnificently-researched and thoughtful work which locates Nelson in a global context" (Linda Colley)

"This work is massively authoritative" (Max Hastings Sunday Telegraph)

"One can say with confidence that this momumental tome is the finest yet written on England's great naval hero. Sugden's brilliant book is chock-full of fascinating details. And if the second volume turns out as well as this, his life of Nelson will be one of the historical masterpieces of our time" (Frank McLynn Daily Express)

"A massive, first-rate battleship of a book" (Colin White Observer)

There have been numerous biographies of Nelson, but most fail to penetrate the mythology encrusting Britain's greatest naval hero. John Sugden has examined thousands of naval, military, diplomatic and personal documents. He has ruthlessly stripped away the legends and brilliantly reconstructed Nelson's private and public life. Nelson: A Dream of Glory charts the period of Nelson's career most neglected by earlier writers - from childhood to his debut as a public hero after the breathtaking victory against the Spanish fleet at Cape St Vincent, when he became an admiral and stood on the verge of international fame. Dealing with every facet of Nelson's life - the man, the naval officer and the Georgian - John Sugden offers the only full account of Nelson's early voyages and the first complete analysis of the formative incidents in his career, including his conflict with civil and naval superiors in the West Indies, his campaigns in Corsica and his service as a commodore in the Mediterranean. Throughout there are revealing discoveries about his relationships with his family, patrons, officers and also, with his women. Nelson: A Dream of Glory combines ground-breaking scholarship with a vivid and compelling style. This magisterial biography will immediately become the benchmark against which all subsequent books about Nelson will have to be judged.