Free From Amazon: The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World: from Marathon to Waterloo

Amazon offers a free Kindle edition of the classic The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World: from Marathon to Waterloo.

Elfquest Online

All 6,000 plus pages of the classic fantasy comic Elf Quest now are online.

Book Review: Crecy 1346 – A Tourists’ Guide

Crecy 1346: A Tourists’ Guide
Publisher’s Site: Pen and Sword

Crecy 1346: A Tourists’ Guide is a neat concept. It looks exactly like a traditional tourist guidebook, such as those published for Disney World, or various cities and attractions around the world. Inside are photos, maps and directions guiding the reader on their travels.

The difference is that this guidebook focuses not on restaurants and the birthplaces of dead poets but on the route of the English army across northern France, and the environs of the battlefield at Crecy. Instead of advice for the best place to stand while watching the light parade, it offers advice on where to go to see the places important to the campaign.

The book offers five “tours”:

  • St-Vaast-la-Hougue to Caen
  • Caen to Elbeuf
  • Elbeuf to Poissy
  • Poissy to Abberville
  • Abbeville to Calais via Crecy-en-Ponthieu
  • The Battlefield

Each tour comes with an historical introduction, a map identifying significant points, and detailed information and photos on the stops. There is also advice on how to travel (including bicycle guides) and places to stay and eat.

Even if you are not headed to Crecy for a vacation, but still have an interest in the battle, I think this would be of interest. There is plenty of history in the book, and the modern photos are more useful than the typical period illustrations

You can also get the book in Kindle format, which would be great, since you could have it on your phone and reference it while travelling.

Thanks to Pen and Sword for providing a review copy.

The Complete Conan Collection – Free!

The complete set of Robert E. Howard’s Conan stories now are available for free in Amazon Kindle format. You can read this 800+ page book on your phone, tablet or computer with the free Kindle app, or with one of Amazon’s standalone Kindle readers. I have a Kindle reader and really like it. While not as nice as a book with actual pages, it is a much better experience than a phone or tablet. I’ve recovered the cost of the Kindle many times over with the free books I can find on Amazon.

This Conan book, for example, is $61 in hardcover, while the Kindle I own was $120. With one reading experience, I’m halfway to making it pay for itself.

The Napoleonic Source Book by Philip Haythornthwaite

Philip Haythornthwaite’s The Napoleonic Sourcebook is a good place to start for a basic understanding of the Napoleonic Wars. The volume is divided into six major sections: The Campaigns, Weapons and the Practice of War, The Nations Involved in the Wars, Biographies, Sources, Miscellaea and a useful glossary. There are more than 200 black and white illustrations, maps and charts. For the painter, the book has descriptions of various uniforms and lists of uniform, facing, hat and button colors.

The Napoleonic Source Book