Trafalgar: The Untold Story of the Greatest Sea Battle in History (Weidenfeld & Nicolson) - Hardcover

Nicholas Best was educated in Kenya and at Trinity College, Dublin. He was commissioned into the Grenadier Guards, which gave him the material for his satirical novel WERE YOU AT WATERLOO? He left the Army to be a financial journalist, but soon became a full-time writer. He was fiction critic for the FINANCIAL TIMES for ten years and has written history books, travel books and many radio scripts. His work has been translated into many languages.

"Cambridge author Nicholas Best recreates the terrible tension and uncertainty of the naval campaign that led to the most famous sea fight in history. His original research draws on a wide range of eyewitnesses to craft a gripping minute-by-minute account." -- CAMBRIDGESHIRE JOURNAL

"Nicholas Best uses eyewitness accounts to recreate the tension and uncertainty of the campaign that led to the battle, and to describe the carnage and the glory of Trafalgar itself." -- CHURCH TIMES

"None are likely to be more comprehensive or gripping than this one, which describes the Royal Navy's triumph over the French which effectively scuppered Napoleon's threat to invade Britain... He is unsparing in his details of the bloodshed wrought by cannons and cutlass wielding seamen who boarded the shattered ships." -- LEICESTER MERCURY

"This gripping book tells the story of Britain's legendary naval victory on October 21, 1905 in which the national hero, Admiral Lord Nelson, was killed by a French sharpshooter... Nicholas Best has done an excellent job describing the build up to the Battle and the primative conditions on the ships... This book is replete with fascinating details." -- ANTHONY LOOCH, GLASGOW EVENING TIMES

"Trafalgar was not only a great sea battle, it saved Britain from invasion by Napoleon. That is why this book, which rattles along excitingly, gave me fresh appetite for the subject. It sets Nelson's victory in context - the risks of 1940 were just as grave in 1805.... Nicholas Best's racy account of the prelude to the sea battle makes one realise how risky sea warfare was under sail." -- Peter Lewis, DAILY MAIL