A magisterial history of “Napoleon's Vietnam,” by the highly acclaimed author of Blood of Spain: An Oral History of the Spanish Civil War.

In this definitive account of the Peninsular War (1807–14), Napoleon’s six-year war against Spain, Ronald Fraser examines what led to the emperor’s devastating defeat against the popular opposition — the guerrillas — and their British and Portuguese allies. As well as relating the histories of the great political and military figures of the war, Fraser brings to life the anonymous masses — the artisans, peasants and women who fought, suffered and died — and restores their role in this barbaric war to its rightful place. This vivid, meticulously researched book offers a distinct and profound vision of “Napoleon’s Vietnam” and shows the reality of the disasters of war: the suffering, discontents and social upheaval that accompanied the fighting.

Praise for Blood of Spain:

“... a unique lesson in the twists and turns of revolutionary struggle.”— Socialist Review

“By interweaving narratives by participants of all political groups, ... gave substance to movements relegated to the footnotes of more orthodox histories.” — Edinburgh Review

“Mr Fraser is an excellent traditional historian ... not so much concerned with the grandees and memoir writers on either side as with “ordinary people,” whose voices in history are usually silent... It is the sudden shaft of the experience, unforgettable because it is either so bizarre or so painful, that gives the sense of immediate reality to the book.” — Raymond Carr, New York Review of Books

Ronald Fraser is the leading oral historian of twentieth-century Spain. He is the author of several books, including Blood of Spain and Tajos: The Story of a Village on the Costa del Sol.

480 pages

Cloth
1 84467 082 1
US$50 / £24.99 / CAN$70