Many readers will come to David Cordingly's The Real Master and Commander from a desire as fans of Patrick O'Brian and C.S. Forester to learn more about the remarkable man whose life provided the raw material for the tales of Jack Aubrey and Horatio Hornblower. Make no mistake, however, Cordingly's excellent historical biography deserves to be read on its own merits.

Lord Thomas Cochrane executed such stunningly audacious feats - successfully attacking much larger ships with his small sloop Speedy, leading an attack of fireships on the French fleet at Basque Roads, and helping Chile and Brazil establish their independence - that one might cry `what pitiful stuff' if one read it in a work of historical fiction. But it really happened.

Cochrane was a flawed man who could not restrain himself from reckless attacks on powerful forces in the navy and the government generally. When he found himself entangled in an infamous stock exchange fraud (the leaders spread false rumors that Napoleon had died and then sold their shares when the market predictably spiked), he discovered that powerful men were only too happy to see him convicted and drummed out of the navy. Cordingly judiciously sifts the evidence of Cochrane's guilt or innocence from our vantage point nearly 200 years later.

In addition to his naval feats Cochrane also fought for reform causes as a member of parliament. His intemperate tactics and language did him little good. Of course, he was quite right in insisting that either the electoral system would be reformed from within or reformed from without with a vengeance from without.

After several years in the `wilderness', Cochrane sailed to South America and successfully aided the rebellion against Spain and Portugal. He eventually wore out his welcome there as well, in part due to fights over prize money. From there he went to the Greek Fiasco, as Cordingly aptly names it. He spent his remaining years fighting with some success to restore honor to his name. A sad dwindling away for this remarkable man.

A must read for fans of Age of Sail historical fiction and an excellent histroical biography.

Many readers will come to David Cordingly's The Real Master and Commander from a desire as fans of Patrick O'Brian and C.S. Forester to learn more about the remarkable man whose life provided the raw material for the tales of Jack Aubrey and Horatio Hornblower. Make no mistake, however, Cordingly's excellent historical biography deserves to be read on its own merits.

Lord Thomas Cochrane executed such stunningly audacious feats - successfully attacking much larger ships with his small sloop Speedy, leading an attack of fireships on the French fleet at Basque Roads, and helping Chile and Brazil establish their independence - that one might cry `what pitiful stuff' if one read it in a work of historical fiction. But it really happened.

Cochrane was a flawed man who could not restrain himself from reckless attacks on powerful forces in the navy and the government generally. When he found himself entangled in an infamous stock exchange fraud (the leaders spread false rumors that Napoleon had died and then sold their shares when the market predictably spiked), he discovered that powerful men were only too happy to see him convicted and drummed out of the navy. Cordingly judiciously sifts the evidence of Cochrane's guilt or innocence from our vantage point nearly 200 years later.

In addition to his naval feats Cochrane also fought for reform causes as a member of parliament. His intemperate tactics and language did him little good. Of course, he was quite right in insisting that either the electoral system would be reformed from within or reformed with a vengeance from without.

After several years in the `wilderness', Cochrane sailed to South America and successfully aided the rebellion against Spain and Portugal. He eventually wore out his welcome there as well, in part due to fights over prize money. From there he went to the Greek Fiasco, as Cordingly aptly names it. He spent his remaining years fighting with some success to restore honor to his name. A sad dwindling away for this remarkable man.

A must read for fans of Age of Sail historical fiction and an excellent histroical biography.

As a die hard Patrick O'Brian fan and an amateur history buff this book was intriguing to me. It is very well written and presents the life story of an amazing British Navy hero not well known today.

David Cordingly does a superb job presenting the real life exploits of Cochrane, which incredibly are every bit as extraordinary as the fictional exploits of Captain Jack Aubrey in the Patrick O'Brian Master and Commander series.

I highly recommend it.

A great story and a great read about a great commander by my new favorite author, Thank You, Sir. I am going to order "Billy Ruffian".

I think I am correct in saying that I have read all of the biographies of Thomas, Lord Cochrane, published in the last few decades, and I would rate this volume as the being the best of all, giving good coverage of all phases of Cochrane's long naval and political careers. Unlike some authors, Cordingly is careful to match Cochrane's own accounts of his activities against other primary sources, and to give equal balance to Cochrane's activities in the wars for South American independence with those during the Napoleonic Wars.

Cochrane was an extraordinary man, his genuine history perhaps more amazing than any of the fiction inspired by his real-world activities, this is a biography that does him justice, lauding his good qualities and achievements without hiding his flaws and failures.

I am not an O'Brian fan but I do love C.S. Forester. This gripping true life narrative was an easy read and was more exciting than the fiction that used Cochrane as an inspirtation. This unfortunate tragic hero's life is told in gripping detail from his self-claimed sabotage as a naval officer to his failed career as a reformist politician in the Napoleanic Era of England. The scientific advances both in military and civilian pursuits are also touched on as scientific curioisty and their failure to commercially take advantage of their discoveries seemed to have run in Cochrane's family. For those who love those fictious sea tales of both O'Brian and Forester, this is the real thing.

David Cordingly brings to life this tragic hero, as vividly as any fictive work, but with a bold reality of his times, the war against Napoleon through the independence movements of Chile, Brazil and Greece, all in which Lord Cochrane played an indispensable role, and of the radical politician who, as a naval officer, actually cared for the wellbeing of those who entrusted their lives to him, and thereby acquired their undying adoration. And, insodoing, this real life biography outshines those works relying as their basis thereon.

For those of us suffering from Patrick O'Brian withdrawal syndrome David Cordingly may well be the answer. His life of Lord Cochrane, the Real Master and Commander, is every bit as gripping as any O'Brian novel. What's more, details of British political life at the turn of the nineteenth century make Karl Rove and the Swift Boat crew seem like gentlemen and the UN Oil for Peace scandals small change. Cordingly brings history to life and I am now eager to read his earlier books.

lance Reynolds