Nelson: The Essential Hero

As a naval commander he was an inspiring hero, honored to this very day as the essence of bravery. In his private life, he was a cad, conducting a scandalous openly adulterous affair with Lady Emma Hamilton and humiliating her cuckold husband. In victories at sea and in the boudoir, Horatio Nelson was an indomitable conqueror and deserving of his immortal reputation. He was the sworn enemy of Napoleon and the French, and considered himself a failure if a single enemy ship escaped destruction. His strategies to achieve this end are still studied and marveled at. Bradford brilliantly recounts the events of Nelson's life and details the naval warfare of this thrilling period in British history. Ernle Bradford was born in 1922 and died in 1986. He was a noted British historian specializing in the Mediterranean world and naval topics. Bradford was an enthusiastic sailor himself and spent almost thirty years sailing the Mediterranean, where many of his books are set. He served in the Royal Navy during World War II, finishing as the first lieutenant of a destroyer. Bradford lived in Malta for a number of years. He did occasional broadcast work for the BBC, was a magazine editor, and wrote many books, including Hannibal, Paul the Traveller, Julius Caesar: The Pursuit of Power, Christopher Columbus, and The Mighty Hood.