Rodney

Résumé du livre

Rodney is an enigma. His triumphs have been belittled, his motives misunderstood, is sins emphasized. For 200 years the weight of prejudice and condemnation has been thrusting him into the dark corners of history. Now David Spinney presents a biography of Rodney which will be the definitive work for decades. It is not only an impressive piece of scholarship and exhaustive research, but a most entertaining account of one of Britain's great sailors. There is a wealth of background providing lively social history of the times which helps us to see Rodney in the light of contemporary opinion. Rodney joined the Navy in 1732 and only ten years later became a post-captain. He took part in Hawke's victory off Finisterre over the French fleet in 1747, and in 1749 was appointed Governor of Newfoundland. During the Seven Years War he distinguished himself as a junior flag-officer. His crowning achievement was his victory of Dominica over the French fleet in 1782. The other side of his story is less impressive. He was undoubtedly vain, extravagant and at times overbearing. David Spinney sets it all out, and there emerges a portrait of a vigorous, heroic, fallible sea-officer who has been ill-served by previous writers. The text is generously illustrated with eighteen photographs (some previously unpublished), maps, battle plans, and genealogical tables tracing Rodney's English and American connections. It is as complete a picture of a high-ranking sea-officer of the eighteenth century as has ever been published.