Nelson: The Biography of one of Britain's Greatest Military Leaders

Nelson continues to fascinate academics as well as the general public.

He is still considered one of Britains greatest heroes and featured within the top ten of the BBC poll of such figures.

But why does Nelson still remain such a prominent figure in the national imagination?

Beginning with Nelsons early life and an analysis of the condition and practice of the Navy at the time of Nelsons entry into service, Carolan goes on to examine Nelsons naval battles before Trafalgar, particularly the pivotal Battle of the Nile in which the then Rear Admiral Horatio Nelson, with a fleet of fourteen ships, captured six and destroyed seven French vessels out of a total of seventeen and in the process achieved one of the most decisive victories in the age of sail and re-established British command of the Mediterranean.

Devoting a full section to the Battle of Trafalgar, Carolan looks in detail at the build-up to the battle, the events and progress of the battle, at the Admirals of the French and Spanish navies and explains why the battle was so decisive in the Napoleonic Wars.

She goes on to look at the immediate aftermath of Nelsons death and his state funeral and then to his legacy, the building of monuments (particularly Trafalagar Square and Nelsons Column), the development of the Nelson myth, his depiction in film, his value for propaganda purposes during the two world wars and the current state of scholarship on Nelson.