Dead Men Telling Tales: Napoleonic War Veterans and the Military Memoir Industry, 1808-1914

— —

Matilda Greig (Research Associate, Research Associate, University of Cardiff, UK)

Dead Men Telling Tales

Napoleonic War Veterans and the Military Memoir Industry, 1808-1914

Matilda Greig (Research Associate, Research Associate, University of Cardiff, UK)

$167.95

Hardback

Not in-store but you can order this
How long will it take?

Availability Information

We source books from suppliers in Australia and overseas. For books we don't currently have in stock, the time it takes to get them from our suppliers can vary widely - from a few days to a few months - so we check each book with each supplier to determine the expected time it will take to be supplied to us.

We then advise you accordingly. If the time taken to get any book is too long for you, you can let us know and we will cancel or adjust your order, and refund as required.

To find out the anticipated arrival time for specific items prior to ordering, please contact us by phone or email:

Phone +61 2 9264 3111, or 1800 4 BOOKS (1800 4 26657) if outside Sydney:
option 1 Abbey's Bookshop (Crime, History, Science, Kids & more) • info@abbeys.com.au
option 2 Language Book Centre (ESL & Foreign Languages) • language@abbeys.com.au
option 3 Galaxy Bookshop (Sci-fi, Fantasy, Romance, Graphic Novels) • sf@galaxybooks.com.au

QTY:

English

Oxford University Press
26 August 2021

Dead Men Telling Tales is an original account of the lasting cultural impact made by the autobiographies of Napoleonic soldiers over the course of the nineteenth century. Focusing on the nearly three hundred military memoirs published by British, French, Spanish, and Portuguese veterans of the Peninsular War (1808-1814), Matilda Greig charts the histories of these books over the course of a hundred years, around Europe and the Atlantic, and from writing to publication to afterlife. Drawing on extensive archival research in multiple languages, she challenges assumptions made by historians about the reliability of these soldiers' direct eyewitness accounts, revealing the personal and political motives of the authors and uncovering the large cast of characters, from family members to publishers, editors, and translators, involved in production behind the scenes. By including literature from Spain and Portugal, Greig also provides a missing link in current studies of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, showing how the genre of military memoirs developed differently in south-western Europe and led to starkly opposing national narratives of the same war. Her findings tell the history of a publishing phenomenon which gripped readers of all ages across the world in the nineteenth century, made significant profits for those involved, and was fundamental in defining the modern 'soldier's tale'.

By: Matilda Greig (Research Associate Research Associate University of Cardiff UK)
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Edition: 1
Dimensions: Height: 240mm, Width: 165mm, Spine: 22mm
Weight: 1g
ISBN: 9780192896025
ISBN 10: 0192896024
Pages: 272
Publication Date: 26 August 2021
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Introduction Part I: Authors 1: The Language of War 2: Before the Ink Dries 3: Iberian War Writing 4: The Myth of the Accidental Author Part II: Books 5: Scribblomania 6: Editors and Afterlives 7: Circulation and Transnational Memory Conclusion: War for Sale

Dr Matilda Greig is a Research Associate at Cardiff University, working on the AHRC-funded project 'Strange Meetings: Enemy Encounters 1800-2020', and has previously held research and teaching posts at University College Dublin and Sciences Po. She completed her PhD at the European University Institute in Florence in 2018, and holds an MA from Leiden University and a BA from the University of Cambridge. Matilda writes about the cultural history of war, particularly soldiers' memoirs and popular material culture, and specialises in modern European and Atlantic history. Her work has been published in History Workshop Journal, Nineteenth-Century Contexts, and Hypothèses.