Books like With musket, cannon, and sword by Brent Nosworthy

Richard Sharpe, an officer judged too low for his rank, faces mutinous soldiers and enemy cavalry while leading elite riflemen and local partisans in daring operations during the Peninsular War against Napoleon.

David McCullough’s *1776* chronicles the human drama surrounding the American Revolution’s pivotal year, tracing ordinary soldiers, notable leaders, and British forces as they shape the fate of the fledgling nation.

Raphael explains the central purpose of his "people's history" thusly: "By uncovering the stories of farmers, artisans, and laborers, we discern how plain folk helped create a revolution strong enough to evict the British Empire from the thirteen colonies. And by digging deeper still, we learn how people with no political standing -- women, Native Americans, African Americans -- altered the shape of a war conceived by others." After carefully reconstructing the histories of all these groups, he concludes: "The story of our nation's founding, told so often from the perspective of the 'founding fathers,' will never ring true unless it can take some account of the Massachusetts farmers who closed the courts, the poor men and boys who fought the battles, the women who followed the troops, the loyalists who viewed themselves as rebels, the pacifists who refused to sign oaths of allegiance, the Native Americans who struggled for their own independence, the southern slaves who fled to the British, the northern slaves who negotiated their freedom by joining the Continental Army". Raphael's account rings true: these people made the American Revolution. - Marcus Rediker, University of Pittsburgh.

Napoleon's campaigns within Europe have been exhaustively covered, but in this pioneering and highly original survey, Paul Fregosi focuses on Napoleon's forays outside Continental Europe. Reminding us that Napoleon wanted to be "not just the Emperor of France and the conqueror of Europe, but Emperor of the Orient and the Conqueror of India," Fregosi explores Napoleon's global ambition -- an ambition so vast that hardly a corner of the world remained untouched. In this engrossing work, Fregosi examines Napoleon's overall methods and aims, and also recounts Napoleon's campaigns in America (Louisiana), the West Indies, the Middle East, Africa, Ireland, Asia and South America. Few people realize that Napoleon conquered the islands of Haiti, Guadalupe, St. Kitt's and Martinique in the Caribbean and Guyana in South America. In Africa, he captured Capetown and occupied Senegal. Napoleon's ships took Mauritius and the Seychelles Islands in the Indian Ocean, and in the Southwest Pacific, the tricolor flag of France flew over Java. And in the Mediterranean, Napoleon occupied Malta, Corfu and Cypress. Fregosi fills his pages with fascinating detail, vivid character sketches and exciting battle scenes. Dreams of Empire fills in the gaps left in the more conventional history of Napoleon's wars and provides a fresh and highly readable interpretation of his actions and their consequences. - Jacket flap.

In the capstone work of his career, distinguished military historian Jay Luvaas brings together in one volume the military genius of Napoleon. Unlike Sun Tzu or Carl von Clausewitz, Napoleon never wrote a unified essay on his military philosophy. Yet, as one of the world's great strategists and tacticians, he sprinkled wisdom throughout his many and varied writings. Jay Luvaas spent over three decades poring through the thirty-two volumes of Napoleon's correspondence, carefully translating and editing all of his writings on the art of war, and arranging them into seamless essays. The resulting book captures the brilliant commander's thoughts on everything from the preparation of his forces to the organization, planning, and execution of his battles -- all buttressing Napoleon's view that "in war there is but one favorable moment; the great art is to seize it." Napoleon on the Art of War will be essential reading for military buffs, students of history, and any business leader looking for timeless insights on strategy. * * * Almost every great captain (Sun Tzu, de Saxe, de Villars, Frederick II, Clausewitz, Jomini, among others) have written one of three things: 1) A memoir, recounting their perceptions of battles and campaigns, 2) Guides, or textbooks concerning their beliefs on the principles of tactic, logistic, and strategy, or 3) A history, a detailed analysis of specific battles, campaigns, and marches, with descriptions of the different officers and generals they had to work with Napoleon, despite being (in my opinion) the greatest military and civil ruler of all time, never wrote any of these things (unless you refer to excerpts from his diaries, which was posthumously printed and never intended to be read, or his proclamations, which were mostly inflated propaganda). However, in many of his diary entries, travel journals, and personal letters to his brothers that he placed on the throne of European countries, or his trusted 26 Marechals de France, he left gold jackpots of wisdom which are of use today. Thus the excellent historian Jay Luvaas (who also wrote "Frederick the Great on the Art of War") spent over 30 years poring through Napoleon's correspondances, and cut and pasted them together to form what would seem like a continuous and fluent book, 100% written in Napoleon's own words. Genius! A must have, and a must read for all Napoleonic, or just military fans everywhere.