The War for All the Oceans

From Nelson at the Nile to Napoleon at Waterloo

By: Roy Adkins, Lesley Adkins

Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor

Roy Adkins, with his wife, Lesley, returns to the Napoleonic War in The War for All the Oceans, a gripping account of the naval struggle that lasted from 1798 to 1815, a period marked at the beginning by Napoleon's seizing power and at the end by the War of 1812. In this vivid and visceral account, Adkins draws on eyewitness records to portray not only the battles but also the details of a sailor's life: shipwrecks, press-gangs, prostitutes, spies, and prisoners of war.

The War for All the Oceans is epic narrative history, sure to appeal to fans of Patrick O'Brian and C. S. Forester, as well as all readers of military and social history.

©2007 Roy Adkins and Lesley Adkins (P)2007 Tantor Media Inc.

Critic reviews

"Sumptuous storytelling." (Kirkus)
"Vivid....[A] rollicking saga." (Publishers Weekly)

Narration is not that bad

I put off this book for months, due to the bad reviews of the narrator, which seemed to be corroborated by the sample from the first few paragraphs of the book. Eventually I decided to take a chance, and was glad I did.

The narrator gets into a decent rhythm, and his American accent is a useful contrast to the many other accents from French and British accounts of naval battles.

This book contained a lot of stories and historical detail that I was not previously aware of, despite having read several other histories of this period, including Napoleon's Wars by Charles Esdaile.

Overall, a satisfying story with a satisfying narrator.

Vignettes of a bygone age

While this book is rather disjointed in its treatment of a fascinating age, there were nonetheless many historical tidbits that I found most interesting.

Sad to say, Patrick Lawlor - whom I enjoyed as the narrator of 'Three Cups of Tea" - has a real problem with British placenames, Scottish accents and French in general. These I found most distracting.

A wonderful work of history, with one exception

Great book, top-notch narration (Lawton truly did the book justice). I greatly enjoyed all the detail, the personal stories that evinced so much research by the author. My *only* complaint is the short shrift given the most important battle of the time: Trafalgar. I’m fairly certain that the author had felt that Trafalgar had been done to death in other histories and did not want to waste the readers’ time, but the barely-one-page coverage of the battle itself does significantly detract from this otherwise most excellent work.

Pretty good, if disorganized

I enjoyed the The War for All the Oceans. There were a great deal of personal letters and diary entries that gave life to the battles and even everyday life of the soldiers and seamen.

As a reader of the Aubrey-Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian, I certainly found several familiar sequences and battles.

The main drawback of the book is a bit of a tendency to skip from one story to the next and back again. To a degree it can be explained as an attempt to maintain chronology, but some anecdotes could have been completed with much less inter-splicing of material.


Overall, I found the book both entertaining and informative. I would certainly recommend it to anyone with a love for the old British Navy, or those who have an interest in the Napoleonic wars.

Good (not great) book, horrible choice of narrator

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

This book does a decent job of covering many of the major naval aspects of the Napoleonic wars. It tends to concentrate on exerts of first person letters and diaries.

I was shocked that the actual Battle of Trafalgar rated only about a paragraph. It turns out that the authors have written a whole book on that one battle, so I guess they expect you buy that if you want any details.

Patrick Lawlor should not have been selected to read this book, and if he had any sense he would have turned the offer down.

Lawlor speaks perfect Midwestern American English. He is highly qualified to read books written in an American voice.

Sadly, this is a British book written principally about British and European people, very often quoting their own letters and reports.

For reason that only be classified as insane, the producers have Lawlor trying to mimic British, French, and other European accents.

Lawlor struggles with this task, and fails miserably. All his frequent attempts at accents wind up sounding like 'The Count' on Sesame Street!

It's all terribly distracting, doubly so for anyone who has enjoyed the magnificent performances by Patrick Tull reading the O'Brian books.

The disaster that is the voice performance of this audio book can not be overstated!

It's not Lawlor's fault, it is the fault of the publisher and editor. This audio edition should be withdrawn, and replaced with a proper British reader.

BTW, I'm a Texan who lived in England for the three years, not a snobby Brit.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The War for All the Oceans?

The accounts of the prison system in France.

How could the performance have been better?

Well, it could not have been worse! GET A PATRICK TULL TO READ THIS BOOK!

Did The War for All the Oceans inspire you to do anything?

Not buy British audio books read by Americans.

Very well researched

Although a bit long, this is a very well researched book with many interesting and appropriate anecdotes

The Other Story about the Napoleonic Wars

The book covers the Napoleonic Wars from the perspective of the naval battles. It argues that the British blockade of much of Europe was the real reason for the downfall of Napoleon. The blockade gradually put more and more pressure on Napoleon, gradually reducing his options, and inevitably pushing him to make mistakes, which eventually lead to his downfall.

I think that this perspective is perhaps the dominate part of the truth, but still only part of the truth. Still I think it’s an important point, and the author, probably, meant no more than this.

The only fault is that it’s not that gripping a book. The style is a collection of short stories, which seems a good choose for this subject. But the narrative quality of the short stories seemed highly variable. Some were captivating, many were not.

Maps would help!

a human side of the war

Not as much a history of events as it is a history of ordinary sailors who fought the war. Whatever you know of the Nspoleanic wars on land and sea, this will be a valuable augmentation. You will find that in the years from then to now much has changed, except for the men fighting the wars. For them it remains the same.

Entertaining, With Some Caveats.

+ Narrator. Don't listen to the elitists in the reviews. The narrator is great. Full of emotion and well acted.
+ Well structured. Timeline is sound and smaller stories strung together well.
+ Very entertaining.

-- The typical, tired, bad faith British worldview of the period. The writing inserts almost caricature or cartoon image of the main players in the mind's eye, it is so intense. Napoleon is short and surrounded by flies, always frowning, I'm sure. Hero British man of the chapter is glowing, chest puffed out. Warner Brothers. Motivations inserted onto Napoleon in worst faith, which surely can't be sourced, spoken as historical fact.

Overall, the keyword is entertaining. If you are looking for fun in the age of sail, this is a pretty good book. If you are looking for unbiased education, look elsewhere.

I really enjoyed this book!

Would you listen to The War for All the Oceans again? Why?

The authors obviously did a great deal of research into the letters and writings of people who actually took part in making this history. Most of the material they quote is not from the elites but from common sailors, wives, prostitutes, prisoners of war, young officers, criminals, women aboard British warships, impressed Americans, smugglers, parole breakers, and otherwise unknown and disreputable participants. For me, this brought historical events into sharp focus.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The War for All the Oceans?

No single memorable moment, rather it is the compilation of hundreds of individual moments, each as perfect as if captured in amber, that makes this history so compelling.

Which scene was your favorite?

One of the best stories about the British navy in the Napoleonic era that highlights the sensibilities of the age involves the visit of the Queen to a battleship just newly arrived back in England. The sailors, being sailors, had brought aboard hundreds of prostitutes, which was a common practice in the British navy at the time. The Captain ordered that they be kept below decks while the Queen toured the ship. But, the Queen, being the Queen, looked down into a passageway and saw these women staring up at her as if she were from another planet. She immediately ordered that the women be allowed to come up on deck so they could see what was going on. Priceless!

Any additional comments?

A lot of comments here about the reader, most of them negative. Too bad. I enjoyed Lawlor's narration, his comic French accent and terrible Scottish accent as well. His interpretations of the voices of all these common people who witnessed this conflict added immeasurably to their humanity and their realness.