Lambert writes . . . penetratingly, challengingly and, above all, clear-eyed. It is as if a well-known painting that has accrued decades of grime has been cleaned and restored, so that its details and true colours are revealed once again.Allan Mallinson, Country Life
With the future of NATO being questioned as never before, policymakers should read this superb book as a masterclass in the vital areas of strategic acuity, domination of the oceans, and the deployment of hard power. It was no coincidence that Britain managed to deter attack from any major power for almost a century after Waterloo, and Andrew Lambert shows how it was done by far-sighted statesmen in an era of intense Great Power rivalry.Andrew Roberts, author of Churchill: Walking with Destiny
Mastery of the complex narrative of a tumultuous century, matched with insights from Seapower States and The British Way of War, delivers a key text for statesmen confronting new Napoleons today.Michael Barritt, author of Nelsons Pathfinders
A masterful and original account of British grand strategy in the century after Waterloo, stressing the role of diplomacy and naval power, and focusing on the wars that werent fought as much as those that were.Lawrence Freedman, author of Command