This was a very interesting book, especially when discussing the events leading up to and after the battle at Culloden. However, unless one is a military or English historian, the details become too involved for the causal reader.

This book appears to be part of a series of books resisting and helping the modern reader learn about famous historic battles. The concept of this series is an interesting one, and I suspect there will be interest in the books. This book contained photographic pictures of the battlefield to give the reader an understanding of the terrain, as well as reproductions of some of the maps used during the battle, and diagrams of troops' movements.

As the goal of the series is to re-visit battles, I am not sure how to solve the real problem of this book -- the battle descriptions and recalling are just too specific and long. There are pages devoted to the various military weapons used in the battle (without any illustrations of how they actually looked). There are some descriptions of several of the military leaders, but there is no explanation when talking about formations and with the terminology.

Certainly this book removed a great deal of the myth and legend surrounding Culloden, and provided an unbiased look at the causes and effects of the battle. However, the bulk of the book became a military history report which a causal reader would get lost in.

Reviewed in pre-publication with thanks to the publisher and NetGalley.