The first hard frost of the season came to our farm last night and it recalls me to my duty to provide an update for the season. My wife Roberta, known to you as the Packing and Shipping Department, asks: when will unsold book boxes evacuate the guest bedroom? Mulling this over, I returned to the staggering increase in postage rates, particularly for our overseas readers. Thus, our Postage Relief Offer to coincide with the holidays. For American customers, we offer Free Shipping on all orders. For overseas customers we offer a substantial Postage Discount of 50 percent off the actual cost of postage: pay only $15 (€14 or £12) postage for one book, instead of the usual $30; and $30 (€28 or £24) for an order of two or more books, instead of the usual $60. Canadian customers will pay $10 instead of $20 for one book, and $20 instead of $40 for an order of two books or more. This postage offer will be in effect from now through December 31st and will be applied at checkout.
Pawing through the unsold pile revealed a number of my non-Napoleonic books, including several devoted to the American Civil War (e.g. The Armies of U.S. Grant and Grant Wins the War: Decision at Vicksburg). In addition, I discovered a handful of duplicate Napoleonic books by other authors, all in pristine condition. All hardbacks, including my own, are available for twenty dollars each, paperbacks (my old Osprey Campaign Series and Bantam Vietnam War series, also in pristine condition) for ten dollars. If interested, contact us via napoleonbooks@gmail.com and we will send you the complete list.
So what next? Currently I am contractually committed to ABC-CLIO for an encyclopedia collection of first-hand accounts of Americans in combat from the Revolution to Afghanistan. It’s been challenging and time-consuming as well as informative. I’m proud to report that this year Roberta and I won the Army Historical Foundation’s Distinguished Writing Award in the Reference category. I think that I have broadened my understanding of the history of warfare, which, in turn, has helped me to research and write better about Napoleonic warfare. For example, learning about what used to be called shell shock, and is now labeled post-traumatic stress disorder, informed my Napoleon 1813. I became convinced that numerous French and French-allied officers and men suffered from this syndrome following their exodus from Russia, almost certainly including Napoleon himself.
I am also working on a sequel to my historical novel, the Cost of Freedom. In that novel I pretty much said everything I wanted to say about the Civil War. Instead of writing a linear sequel, I have moved forward to the turn of the century. A child from the first novel serves under Civil War veterans in the fight against the Filipino insurgents, the nation’s first major counter-insurgency conflict. His sister plays a key role with the Anti-Imperialist League, an organization that actively opposed the war. Hopefully the book will be a page-turning adventure story that also informs about the national security choices we make today.
After these projects are finished, I intend to write one more Napoleonic book. I decided to complete the trilogy (1809, 1807, and now 1806) by writing about Napoleon in the war against Prussia. I have walked the fields of Jena and Auerstädt and collected quite a lot of research material. I look forward to getting under way.
As we prepare the farm for the coming winter, we again thank you for your support and wish you and yours health and happiness.
James R. Arnold
Napoleon Books and Burro Station
Fall 2016