Men of Honour: Trafalgar and the Making of the English Hero

by Adam Nicolson

Presenting the contradictions of heroism, as embodied by Horatio Nelson and as tested by the Battle of Trafalgar, Adam Nicolson looks at the variety of qualities - ruthlessness, bravery, kindness, cruelty - that combined in both Nelson and his troops to carry that fateful day.

Genres: History, Naval History, British Literature, Military History, Nonfiction

400 pages, Paperback

Published May 2, 2006

About the author

Adam Nicolson writes a celebrated column for The Sunday Telegraph. His books include Sissinghurst, God’s Secretaries, When God Spoke English, Wetland, Life in the Somerset Levels, Perch Hill, Restoration, and the acclaimed Gentry. He is winner of the Somerset Maugham Award and the British Topography Prize and lives on a farm in Sussex.

Reviews

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like a glimpse into another world, this is a must have book for anyone who wants to understand Nelson's Navy. Many history books concentrate on the facts of what happened, how many ships each side had, their broadside weight of metal etc. But this book explores the inner world of the men's minds - how they saw themselves; how they transfigured the horror of war into glory, and a profession based on killing people into something noble and admirable.

If you're a fan of that peculiarly 18th Century combination of intolerable violence and rational, delicate, chivalric restraint, this cannot fail to fill you with glee, as well as new understanding.

If you are only ever going to get one book about the British Royal Navy, this should be the one.

[Robert Hepple · Rating 4 out of 5]

First published in 2005, 'Men of Honour - Trafalgar and the Making of the English Hero' is an in depth look at the events over the hours leading up to the clash of British, French and Spanish warships at the Battle of Trafalgar. Much is said about the methods of sea warfare in 1805, but the emphasis is very much on the psychology of the participants and how this fitted in with the established thought processes of 1805, alongside just how this differs from thought processes now. Gripping throughout, but it does go all around houses getting the point across and consequently can by mighty slow going.

[Andrew Knowles · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is outstandingly good.

I love the wealth of original sources, blended with the rich, imaginative and compelling writing style.

It's the first book I've read about the Battle of Trafalgar, so I've nothing to compare it with. But the detail, along with the wealth of background into Georgian society, had me hooked.

I'm confident I'll be going back to it over and over, as a secondary source.

[Gilly McGillicuddy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Copypasted from what I wrote on LJ while I was actually reading it:

Also, I'm halfway through "Men of Honour: Trafalgar and the Making of the English Hero", which Esteven gave me when we met up, and it just all KINDS of squee. I'll read it in bed and utterly irritate Hyel with my gleeful giggling, or I'll be on a train and people will look at me strangely because I've got a doofy grin on my face, and it's just WONDERFUL.

Everybody, you must read this book!! Do it, everybody!

____

I've almost finished "Men of Honour". Lord, what a fascinating and wonderful read. I'm half in love with this book.

I'm on the last chapter now. Nelson is gone. Midshipman Duff is writing a letter to his mother to inform her of the death of her husband. Everybody is shell-shocked. Profound melancholy.

But this:

"He had news: Nelson was dead.
On the Royal Sovereign, Collingwood was seen in tears. One of his sailors wrote home: 'Our dear Admiral Nelson is killed! So we have paid pretty sharply for licking em. I never set eyes on him, for which I am both sorry and glad; for to be sure, I should like to have seen him - but then, all the men in our ships who have seen him are such soft toads, they have done nothing but blast their eyes and cry ever since he was killed.'"

I don't know whether to be amused by that or whether to just be horribly horribly sad.

___


I've finished 'Men of Honour'. *huggles it to bits* Again, I'm urging EVERYONE to read it. Lovely lovely.

[Jamie Mosley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent analysis of how this epic battle in 1805 defined a hero and the traits which make up such a proto-english hero. Although I must disagree with the case of this battle being the making of the english hero as many characters during the 18th century were used before this, such as General Wolfe.

[CadyCan · Rating 4 out of 5]

For an historical novel this was well written, like a novel which could be enjoyed