Overview

In these pages, acclaimed historian David Crane gives us an astonishing, intimate snapshot of the people and places surrounding the battle that changed the course of world history. Switching perspectives between Britain and Belgium, prison and palace, poet and pauper, husband and wife, Went the Day Well? offers a highly original view of Waterloo, showing how the battle was not only a military landmark, but also a cultural watershed that drew the line between the rural, reactionary age of the past and the urban, innovative era to come. Lyrically rendered in Crane’s signature prose style, this essential account freeze-frames the ordinary men and women of 1815 who went about their business, attended lectures, worked in fields and factories—all on the cusp of a new, unforeseeable age.

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9780307741899

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Reviews

Of the many books that have been written to mark this year s bicentenary of the battle of Waterloo, Crane s surely ranks among the most original. His is not just the story of the climactic carnage that ended the Napoleonic Wars, but a finely balanced narrative that flits seamlessly between the battlefield and the British home front. . . . Crane holds up the battle as a lens through which we see a warts-and-all portrait of Britain 200 years ago. Mike Rapport, The New York Times Book Review A delightful chronicle of how Britons, famous and obscure, in and out of the Duke of Wellington's army, experienced the iconic battle. . . . Readers will marvel. . . . A historical tour de force a fascinating panorama of Great Britain during the summer of Waterloo. Kirkus (Starred Review) Crane accents his well-paced, fluid style with nice poetic touches, and he succeeds admirably. Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) From the Hardcover edition.

Author Information

David Crane read history and English at Oxford University before becoming a lecturer at universities in Holland, Japan and Africa. His books include Went the Day Well?, Scott of the Antarctic, Empires of the Dead, and The Kindness of Sisters. He lives in northwest Scotland.

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