JasonKoivu

If you're British you already know the story, but if you're unfamiliar, Nelson: a Personal History is a great place to get a general overview. For Americans like me, you might think of Lord Horatio Nelson the way you think of George Washington. In fact, if England allowed their leaders to be elected by popular vote, I have no doubt Nelson would've been made King. His meteoric rise through harrowing, gallant military service puts him in a rarified pantheon of mortal heroes.

Mortal, indeed. Nelson had his faults. In fact, reading how he conquered or succumbed to his own shortcomings and self-defeating vices is just as entertaining as his valiant victories at sea. Christopher Hibbert handles Nelson's wartime and peacetime battles with deft skill. His Nelson is an engrossing, widely-encompassing bio of an immensely colorful life.