NAPOLEON AND THE BATTLE OF WATERLOO

Frances Winwar's recent historical novel about Napoleon, The Eagle and the Rock makes a firm background for this excellent joint study of Napoleon and Wellington. Well chosen incidents through his youth point up Napoleon's individuality, showing the easy matter it was for powerlust to grow in the fertile ground of an active mind and an unbending temperament. Then turning to Wellington, there is the irony of his bad beginning, saved by the merest of chances that sent him to India. Though his later commands in the Spanish and Netherlands campaigns are not followed as closely as Napoleon's rise, there is enough clarity to broaden history and imply the impact of personalities on nations.