1812 is a compilation of Austin's three earlier books on Napoleon's invasion of Russia. Austin's work is deservedly a classic, but due to its complexity is not for novices to Napoleonic history. Nor should this work be read by the faint-hearted, given some of the rather gory and explicit details of a rather savage chapter in the history of warfare. This book is not a comprehensive history of the campaign, since the main focus is on those units that marched to and then retreated from Moscow. Austin uses 100+ eyewitness accounts as the basic material to stitch together a portrait of the campaign as seen by the participants. Readers who seek discussions of grand strategy, the causes of the war or detailed orders of battle will be disappointed by this approach (they should instead turn to Chandler's and Riehn's excellent accounts), but those who want to gain a birds-eye view of the campaign will be very pleased.

Although the account starts with the invasion in June 1812 and covers the battles of Smolensk and Borodino, the most gripping part of Austin's work is the last 400 pages on the retreat from Moscow. The reader will find this account both agonizing and spellbinding, due to the appalling suffering and courage in adversity. This book is about real soldiering, when the chips are down, you are starving and the temperature is sub-zero. Although destroyed by the retreat, the bravery and ability of the soldiers of the Grande Armée shine in these pages. On the other hand, the battle accounts, such as Borodino, are good but a bit confusing and not particularly unique. Better maps with annotations where the major characters were located on the battlefield would have been very helpful.

Unfortunately, this very well researched and written book tends to fall apart a bit in the last few chapters (perhaps due to writer fatigue, after 1100 pages). Austin's account of the campaign ends once Marshal Ney leads the French rearguard across the Niemen River on 12 December. However, the retreat lasted two more weeks across a Prussia that was about to declare war on France. Austin provides no accounts of the final tally of survivors at Konigsberg. After following many of these characters for 1100 pages, Austin only informs the reader of the final fate of a few eye-witnesses, and then only in footnotes. A solid epilogue with notes on each character is missing.

These eyewitness accounts are the heart and soul of Austin's monumental work. However, certain facts should be made clear. First, they are not representative accounts; staff officers and inner-circle types make up 50% of the accounts, with only a handful of enlisted soldiers, NCOs or junior officers included. This is for the obvious reason that very few of the later made it back to publish accounts, but the staff officers had a better chance for survival. The second fact relates to the subjectivity of some accounts. There are cases of exaggeration, distortion and lies in the accounts, which Austin does his best to correct. One eyewitness for example, claims that the Grande Armée lost all its artillery in Russia which Austin corrects in a footnote (the French brought back at least 50 artillery pieces). Thus it is critical for readers to glance frequently at the footnotes to see where accounts are misleading. Nevertheless, Austin cannot eliminate the subjective factor in these accounts. One glaring case I found that goes without notice by Austin involves one of the principle accounts, by Colonel Lubin Griois, commanding the light artillery in the 3rd Cavalry Corps. Griois constantly complains about General Armand Lahoussaye, who took over the corps after the Battle of Borodino in September 1812. According to Griois, Lahoussaye is new to the corps and is an "imbecile". Austin repeats this every time he refers to Lahoussaye. Unfortunately, this does not mesh well with the facts. According to the authoritative dictionary on French generals by Georges Six, Lahoussaye had been a division commander in the corps for nine months so he was not a newcomer as Griois claims. Furthermore, Griois fails to mention that Lahoussaye had 20 years of combat experience in the cavalry, including the 1805-1807 campaigns in central Europe and 1808-1811 in Spain. Nor does Griois mention that Lahoussaye was seriously wounded at Borodino, which probably interfered with his command ability. Austin fails to mention that Lahoussaye was a baron in the Legion of Honor and that his name is inscribed on the Arc d'Triomphe. Napoleon did not allow "imbeciles" to command for 20 years and thus, Griois' account is probably a case of axe grinding against a former superior. Austin should have provided the background on Lahoussaye to provide balance.

Finally, a critical factor is how Austin uses the accounts, which are often missing crucial pieces. Based upon the pieces of the accounts he offers for example, it seems that almost nobody made it back from Russia. Colonel Chlapowski, commander of the Polish Lancers in the Guard, figures prominently in Austin's account, as do the Lancers themselves. Austin infers that almost all of the Lancers died escorting Napoleon out of Russia. Actually, in Chlapowski's full account, he states that the Lancer's went into Russia with 915 men and came out with 422. Austin uses partial accounts to suggest that the Old Guard came out with only a handful of men. While the Old Guard suffered very heavy losses, it went in with 5,286 infantrymen and came out with 1,430.

Nevertheless, 1812 is an excellent account of the Russian campaign. Reading it will certainly give one an excellent "feel" for the events, if not for all the facts. Therefore, this book should be used in conjunction with other standard campaign histories for balance.

The author did a wonderful job of stringing together a diverse canvas of first person accounts into a coherent narrative. A must read if you are interested in what "actually" happened in 1812. You'll not find strategic analysis or detailed orders of battle info here. But if you want a unique and first rate narrative on the subject, this is it.

The book is a combination of Austin's 3 previous works: The March on Moscow (out of print), Napoleon is Moscow, and The Great Retreat. Previous reviewers have correctly described these books as providing an atmospheric mood of the unfolding catastrophic events. The descriptions are mainly from army officers observing the campaign and Napoleon. The book is better at providing insights into human nature and reactions to chaos than as an detailed analysis of battlefield strategy.

This should not be the first book one reads on Napoleon. The style assumes a knowledge of generals and familiarity with military vocabulary that I lacked when I started it. A reading of Elting's introduction to his Military Atlas of Napoleon would be helpful to neophytes before starting Austin's book to prevent bewilderment over terms such as voltigeur, hussar, cuiassier, etc.

Nonetheless, the images of these first hand accounts are haunting.

This is the second of three volumes, in which Mr. Britten-Austin paints a riveting picture of Napoleon's Russian Campaign in 1812. The concentration is on that part of the campaign aimed at Moscow, and the activities of other forces, detached to address different targets, are only covered in so far as they impact on the march on, stay-in and retreat from Moscow. A huge number of personal recollections have been carefully sifted and appropriate extracts selected, and then merged into a continuous narrative, linked almost seamlessly together by Mr.Britten-Austin himself. The result is a masterpiece. The feeling of immediacy is very pronounced and indeed at times the events, harrowing in themselves, are so graphically described by the participants that the reader has to pause, all but overcome by the horror and pathos of the narrative. This volume is dominated by the conflagration that engulfed most of Moscow immediately after the French arrival, by Napoleon's dithering as he waits for Russian responses that never come to his peace overtures, by Murat's starving forces confronting increasing Russian resistance and by the fatal decision to lurch southwards from Moscow with forces that have already been depleted by hunger and disease, and demoralised by looting and growing breakdowns in discipline. The volume ends with the Emperor's realisation, far too late, that a victory in the field, in the Ukraine or elsewhere, is impossible in 1812 and that retreat is unavoidable. This is grim story of wishful thinking, lack of realism and of a slide towards disaster. Few of the major players come well out of it, other than Prince Eugene Beauharnais, Napoleon's stepson, who in this and the subsequent volume, emerges as an admirable and capable commander in very difficult circumstances. As with the other volumes the footnotes (at the back of the book) are a joy, often packed with detailed information that sheds significant illumination on the main text.

This is the first of three volumes, in which Mr. Britten-Austin paints a riveting picture of Napoleon's Russian Campaign in 1812. The concentration is on that part of the campaign aimed at Moscow, and the activities of other forces, detached to address different targets, are only covered in so far as they impact on the march on, stay-in and retreat from Moscow. A huge number of personal recollections have been carefully sifted and appropriate extracts selected, and then merged into a continuous narrative, linked almost seamlessly together by Mr.Britten-Austin himself. The result is a masterpiece. The feeling of immediacy is very pronounced and indeed at times the events, harrowing in themselves, are so graphically described by the participants that the reader has to pause, all but overcome by the horror and pathos of the narrative. "The March", the opening volume, describes a military machine and supporting administration unprecedented in human history, but just past the peak of its power, embarking on a vast undertaking that has been wholly underestimated in logistics, strategic and political terms. The most surprising revelation, for this reader at least, was the extent to which the disaster commenced almost from the moment that Napoleon's vast multi-national force crossed the Niemen into Russian Territory. Supply breakdowns and outright hunger were significant factors from the outset and the Grand Armee's route eastwards in summer heat was littered with the pathetic corpses of troops from a dozen countries who found suicide preferable to the continued misery of the march. The capture of Smolenko caused heavy losses, but these were minor compared with the hecatomb of Borodino, a horrific slugging match at which Napoleonic tactical genius was most notable by its absence. The first volume ends with the French entry into an eerily deserted Moscow. Readers who enjoy this volume - a feast for all Napoleonic and "War and Peace" enthusiasts - will want to go on immediately to the two subsequent volumes dealing with the occupation of Moscow and with the Retreat itself.

I bought this book on the basis of the above review and was looking forward to a gripping tale of Napoleon's retreat from Moscow. Instead, I found a book bogged down with with the author's attempt to document too many minute details. The writing style is choppy and confusing. I'm sure as a reference book it is very well researched, but it is not at all what I would call a "good read". I gave up after several chapters.

This excellent volume, superbly documented, paints a realistic, grim, and completely readable picture of the Grande Armee's retreat from Moscow. Much new information has been uncovered and used, and this is one of the best books on the subject available today in English. The third of three books by the same author on the Russian campaign, it tells the tale of one of the most tragic and gripping events of the Napoleonic Wars.

The retreat was gruesome. During it, Napoleon reached his nadir as a soldier, but somewhere, possibly during one of the running fights with Cossacks or other Russian irregulars, he regained his identity and courage, and got the remnants of his army out of Russia, the survivors he later proudly nicknamed his 'men of bronze.'

Without a doubt, the French and allied survivors were the toughest men in the Grande Armee by virtue of their getting out of Russia. The best and proudest moment for all concerned, except the Russians of course, was the assault crossing of the Berezina River, the last obstacle facing the Grande Armee on its way home.

Chased by two, and the river line held by another Russian army, the professionalism and stark fighting qualities of Napoleon's soldiers sorted themselves out and they executed a flawless operation, defeating two Russian armies and outrunning a third. Building the bridges they needed as they went, they fought their way across against almost overwhelming numbers of men and guns, the French and their trusted allies, Swiss, Germans, and Poles, outfighting their Muscovite opponents and leaving Russia as victors.

This story has many eyewitnesses, doctors, privates, generals, colonels, and one French actress. They tell of the horror and suffering, of high deeds, and the hopelessness of the snow covered vastness that is Russia in the winter.

This book is excellent, and along with its two partners, deserves wider reading. It is a superb reference for study or fun, and all three have now been produced in one volume.

In this final volume of the trilogy horror is piled on horror as the remnants of the Grand Armee, of its camp followers, and of the pathetic survivors of the pre-war French colony in Moscow struggle westwards through snow and ice, dogged at every step by swarms of Cossacks and the focus of converging Russian armies. Almost every page finds heights of human heroism and sacrifice contrasted with extreme examples of cowardice, selfishness and cruelty. One always knew that the Retreat from Moscow was an unparalleled disaster, but until one reads this fusing of so many first-hand accounts once never realised just how bad it was. The collapse of discipline, hope and decency is graphically depicted yet in the midst of it perhaps the greatest surprise is how effectively some units, not always necessarily elite ones, still managed to stage effective defensive and rearguard actions, without which the disaster would have even more total. (Readers will inevitably find close and indeed uncanny echoes of Anthony Beevor's recent "Stalingrad"). The story is inevitably dominated by Marshal Ney, who comes across as an even more magnificent battlefield-commander than even his "Bravest of the Brave" title suggests, but Prince Eugene Beauharnais, runs him a close second as a splendid, resourceful and indomitable leader in adversity. The pace of the narrative never lets up and indeed the chapters surrounding the loss of the Berezina bridge to the Russians and the subsequent efforts to get the survivors across by improvised field bridging, in appalling conditions, achieve an almost unbearable level of suspense. It is a measure of the writing that, though one knows the outcome, one still hopes page by page that some miracle will still happen. Many of the personalities whose accounts feature in the earlier volumes appear here again, adding to the reader's sense of familiarity. Like its predecessors, this volume cannot be too highly recommended - it is a magnificent achievement and must surely assume classic status.

The story of Napoleon's Hundred Days is so dramatic, so full of romance that it is no wonder that authors keep returning to it. The latest entry in the library of books on the end of Napoleon's public career is Paul Britten Austin's "1815: The Return of Napoleon." Anyone familiar with Paul Britten Austin's previous trilogy on Napoleon's Russian campaign will know that Mr. Austin knows how to cull his sources for the interesting and informative anecdote and weave them together into a fascinating narrative. Austin uses the same technique here. Employing primarily French sources, he follows Napoleon's route from the Golfe Juan to Paris, ending with Napoleon's entrance into the French capital.

Like Mr. Austin's previous works, this is not analytical study of the military, political and diplomatic history of Napoleon's Hundred Days. Readers can easily get that elsewhere. Rather this is the human story of a great event, told by the Frenchmen who experienced it. We see the events through the eyes of the men and women who experienced them. Austin does a good job in his notes indicating trustworthiness of his witnesses. We hear from Royalists, Bonapartists and the fence-sitters. While we have occasional diversions to Paris or some of the other cities in France, Austin sticks closely to the Route Napoléon.

One theme of the book is how those who encountered Napoleon on his return from Elba interpreted their duty, honor and allegiance. Some stand by their oaths to the King, some swear allegiance to Napoleon, Many play a waiting game, doing little or nothing one way or the other.

The book hangs or falls ultimately on the author's choice of quotes from his sources. Austin, as expected, picks his passages well, keeping the narrative flowing with judicious selections from a multitude of characters. The book is filled with human interest stories, such as the story of Col. Jubé's various trials and tribulations at Grenoble that end in his tumble down a flight of stairs. Or that of Peyrusse, Napoleon's treasurer, and his chest of gold. Readers looking for in-depth military, political or diplomatic analysis should look elsewhere, but for the human story of this exciting time, this is a book you'll want to own.

One of the most dramatic episodes of the Napoleonic period was Napoleon's breakout from his Elba by ship, landing in southern France, and marching on Paris. Army units sent to stop him, joined him instead. Hidden tricolor cockades, forbidden by the Bourbons, as were the hated ricolor flags and Napoleonic eagles, appeared from hiding places and again adorned the soldiers' shakos. Greeted enthusiastically wherever he went, Napoleon ended up in the Tuileries, Emperor of France once more. Not a shot had been fired, no blood had been shed. The Bourbons with their fat king, Louis 'the Unavoidable' had fled to Belgium.

Paul Britten Austin energetically and thoroughly presents these dramatic historic events in this new volume on 1815. In the same format as his trilogy on the 1812 campaign, the author weaves his tale of suspence, intrigue, bigger-than-life characters, mainly through first person accounts and demonstrates once again his great ability as an historian and a story teller.

This volume is the first in a two-volume series that will conclude with the rest of the stroy of the 100 Days of Napoleon's reestablished rule in France. I, for one, am looking forward to it. The present volume has set the stage, shown the characters, and whet the appetite. Unfortunately, it ends just when it is going full blast. However, it has set up the 'sequel' excellently, as well as given the readers a wealth of first hand information on the period, and the unforgettable characters that are the players in this greatest of historic dramas.

This excellent book is highly recommended. If a book on the Napoleonic period has the name Paul Britten Austen on it, buy it.

Ingmar Bergman fans should all get to know this book. It's a series of interviews done in the late 1960s, in which he discusses his entire career in relevant but not excruciating detail. My local art house cinema just put on a big Bergman retrospective, and it was fun to be able to see the films and then read the director's comments on them. The photos are nice too; they include such famous sequences as the first dream from "Wild Strawberries" and the opening of "Persona."

I have a couple of small objections. First, the book stops in 1970 (not that big a problem, as most of his really good films were made before that date). Second, there are some issues I wish he'd covered in more detail; sometimes the journalists direct the conversation too much. But these are minor flaws in an essential book on one of cinema's great directors.

"Doctor Glas" (1905), by Hjalmar Soderberg (1869-1941), is the philosophically conflicted diary of Tyko Glas, a young medical doctor in Stockholm, Sweden's largest city, in the form of his personal written diary. He tells us he is just thirty years old and looking for adventure, a progressive and aesthetic intellectual in a conservative city. He disdains the many requests he receives for abortions, invariably turning them away, not of his own beliefs, but because he fears Sweden's hypocritical society would ostracize him.

One day a young lady named Helga provides his life a twist, coming to his examination room, pleading for him to declare she has an "infection of the womb", so her husband of six years, Pastor Gregorius, will not touch her sexually. In truth, she has another man in mind. Glas knows Gregorius personally, and despises him for his own reasons, but after some moral agonizing, the young doctor takes the bull by the horns, "diagnosing" Gregorius with a "weak heart", telling him sex could kill him. This medically-enforced chastity drives Gregorius mad, and he "rapes" his wife out of frustration one night. To diffuse the elevating tension, Gregorius takes a brief trip to another town, during which his wife openly appears in public with her lover back home on Stockholm's streets. Glas, the first-person narrator of this book, reflects on the meaning of life, recalling the young girls he knew earlier in life, admitting he has never held a female in an embrace, and finding himself falling in love with Helga himself.

In his diary, Glas wonders if abortion and murder are not similar, in the sense that both relieve a burden of life. Glas wonders if Gregorius could justifiably be killed to relieve the "burden" upon his wife Helga. He reflects on morality, love, sex, and religion, his thoughts become increasingly feverish. He debates the issue through his diary, turning through various twists of logic, trying to find a relative position which is simultaneously moral and expedient. He even goes so far as to prepare two tablets of potassium cyanide, one for the pastor, and one for himself, should his plan go badly. He clearly loses mental clarity with his obsession over this issue.

Will he actually try to kill Gregorius? Will he woo Helga for himself? Will he drop the entire issue, and snap back to reality? Will he accomplish the impossible reconciliation between morality and his impulses? The resolution will be an interesting one, but Glas will offer only one insight: "Life, I do not understand you."

The book itself is nicely written, the prose lovely of description, polite, high-toned, and at times romantic, and the subject matter frank, from schoolboy wonderment and embarrassment, to "husband's rights" and the moral place of abortion, euthanasia, murder, love, sex, infidelity, and unrequited love in society. The narration is elegant, and this brief novel (150pp) is actually surprisingly substantial. The tone is thoughtful throughout, and an interesting book to read.

(Note: Some readers might have some fun knowing there is a very interesting website, created by a fan, which features this book's various Stockholm locales posted in photos.)