Book description
A vivid retelling of the Battle of Waterloo, based on unpublished
soldiers' written accounts.
There were fifty thousand casualties on the single bloody day of the
Battle of Waterloo: killing on the scale of the First World War. In this
electrifying account, Malcolm Balen combines extraordinary first-hand
accounts of the battle with the story of William Siborne, an officer who
wanted to capture the moment of victory by making the perfect model.
Siborne gathered together eyewitness accounts that read as if the
battle was fought yesterday. But his quest for truth came up against the
might of the British establishment. Who had won the day? Was it
Wellington's forces or Blucher's Prussians? Malcolm Balen tells how two
battles of Waterloo were fought - for Europe's future, and for the
control of history. Praise for 'A Model Victory':
'Malcolm Balen's lucid take on what might have been a footnote to the
historiography of the battle, but in his skilled hands becomes a
compelling meditation on the true nature of war, and the vitally
important question of who writes the histories of war. Balen's
clear-eyed and sympathetic telling of Siborne's sad story, as the
model-maker moves from defiance to eventual capitulation to his powerful
patrons, is itself a model of historical writing.' Nigel Jones, Literary Review
Praise for 'A Very English Deceit':
'As successive corporate accounting scandals surface in America, and
global share prices again tumble, Balen reminds us that the murky tale
of the first Bubble still stands as a cautionary tale for our time.'
Lisa Jardine, Sunday Times
'They are rattling good yarns, and Balen spins them with all the
mastery of the seasoned news man that he is.' Peter Jay, Guardian
Malcolm Balen is the author of a biography of Kenneth Clarke and 'A Very
English Deceit', as well as 'A history of the South Sea Bubble'. He is
senior editorial adviser to BBC News, where he was previously executive
editor. He has a degree in history from Peterhouse, Cambridge
University.
