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(More customer reviews)Brian Lavery is the author of the thoroughly excellent "Nelson's Navy", praised by Patrick O'Brian as the most nearly royal road to knowledge about the Royal Navy of the 1793-18115 period he knew. Lavery's new book, "Jack Aubrey's Commands: A Historical Companion to the Naval World of Patrick O'Brian", is quite evidently tied to the release of the film "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World", based upon O'Brian's novels -- the book's foreword, after all, was written by Peter Weir. the director of the movie. But the book is at least as much directed towards the readers of O'Brian's novels as to viewers of the film (and more so, I would argue), and it should be equally enticing for those simply interested in that historical era. To be sure, Lavery's "Nelson's Navy" is an excellent reference book that contains far more detailed information than the present work, but "Jack Aubrey's Commands" is written in a more approachable style for the general reader, with a text that is meant to be read as a continuous whole, rather than as a collection of details and essays. Its particular strength lies in the numerous and lengthy quotes taken from contemporary sources, making the narrative more vivid and easy to relate to a living world long vanished. In this regard, "Jack Aubrey's Commands" serves as a companion to Lavery's own "Nelson's Navy" as well as to the novels of Patrick O'Brian.
Someone recently asked me whether it was better to buy "Jack Aubrey's Commands" or Richard O'Neill's recent "Patrick O'Brian's Navy: Jack Aubrey's World". Putting the obvious answer of "Buy both of them!" aside (and assuming that the reader already has Lavery's "Nelson's Navy" or feels that this earlier work is as yet too formidable to approach), then my recommendation would depend on the reader's personal preferences. Both volumes contain a good detail of information about the Royal Navy of Jack Aubrey's era. O'Neill's book is especially strong in the area of excellent period illustrations, Lavery's in the direction of narrative strength. The first is perhaps best for repeated browsing, the latter for a straightforward read.
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No fiction writer of modern times has captured the worldof wooden walls, broadsides, and the press gang as successfully asPatrick O'Brian. The twenty books in the O'Brian canon featuring thelives and adventures of Captain Jack Aubrey and his confidant, navalsurgeon Stephen Maturin, have been lauded across the world for theirblend of classic storytelling, historical accuracy, and inspiredcharacterizations. In this new work respected naval historian BrianLavery explores the historical framework of the O'Brian novels byexamining the facts behind the grand narrative and putting the keyepisodes in context while detailing naval life in the era of Nelsonand Napoleon. With well over a hundred illustrations, the bookpresents contemporary plans, drawings, engravings, maps, andphotographs of museum artifacts that have inspired age-of-sailnovelists and moviemakers. Introducing the book is a foreword by PeterWeir, director of the upcoming film of O'Brian's novel Master andCommander. Avid age-of-sail fans will not want to miss this colorfullydetailed complement to the O'Brian series.
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