Patrick O'Brian, C. S. Forester and Captain Marryat all based their literary heroes on Thomas Cochrane, but as David Cordingly shows, Cochrane's own real life exploits were far more daring and exciting than those of his fictional counterparts. Cochrane's impulsive nature meant that he was often his own worst enemy. It was this that lay behind his early success, and also behind the stock exchange scandal that saw him blackballed from the City and his beloved country. Taking his wounded pride and his undiminished abilities as a naval commander to South America, he helped liberate Chile, Peru and Brazil from their colonial masters, before returning home to restless retirement. Drawing on his own travels, wide reading and the kind of original research that distinguished Billy Ruffian, David Cordingly tells the rip-roaring story of the ultimate Romantic hero who helped define his age.
Rezensionen / Stimmen
PRAISE FOR BILLY RUFFIAN 'A thrilling narrative... so alive that you smell the cordite or the guns and hear the splintering of the mighty masts and spars.' Independent 'A masterly account and, like all good biographies, says as much, if not more, about the historical context as about the subject itself.' Sunday Times 'Richly entertaining and informative...These resurrected logbooks, captains' letters and court martial reports give us a thrillingly up-close feeling for what it was like to live and fight through those tumultuous best of times and worst of times.' Independent on Sunday
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Sprache
Verlagsort
Maße
Höhe: 23.4 cm
Breite: 15.3 cm
ISBN-13
978-0-7475-8088-1 (9780747580881)
Schweitzer Klassifikation
David Cordingly was Keeper of Pictures and Head of Exhibitions at the National Maritime Museum for twelve years, where he organised such exhibitions as 'Captain James Cook, Navigator', 'The Mutiny on the Bounty' and 'Pirates: Fact and Fiction'. His other books include Life among the Pirates, Heroines and Harlots and the highly praised Billy Ruffian.
