NELSON A Personal History

David Case (aka Frederick Davidson) is such a prolific and widely heard reader that one knows immediately what to expect with a historical biography such as this: a dry, British, slightly cynical, measured reading whose level of excitement depends on the text itself. Unfortunately, there's not much excitement here. Admiral Lord Nelson comes across as a vain, self-aggrandizing adulturer; his long maudlin relationship with the increasingly obese Lady Hamilton was the major public scandal of his day. True, Nelson gave an arm and the sight of one eye for his country, and later, at the Battle of Trafalgar, his life. And his sailors loved him--that's something. D.R.W. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine [Published: JUN/JUL 01]