PURSUIT OF VICTORY (HORATIO NELSON)

The starting point of Roger Knight's magnificent new biography is to explain how Nelson achieved such extraordinary success. Knight places him firmly in the context of the Royal Navy at the time. He then takes a cool look at Nelson's status as a hero and demolishes many of the myths that were so carefully established by the early authors and repeated by their modern successors. Nelson was a shrewd political operator who charmed and impressed political leaders. He was a difficult subordinate, only happy when completely in command, and capable of great ruthlessness.