Michael McNally, 1649-52: Cromwell's Protestant Crusade.
Bought in: Waterstone's, Oxford Street.
Price: 25 pounds (pricey, I know, specially for 96 pages, but I had a whim)
Having about a third of my novel set during Cromwell's campaign of Ireland I realized I knew very little about the actual military intricacies of that period of the war. Military strategy is by far my weakest subject so after a really crappy day it felt good to spend an unreasonable amount of money (I could have got the book for less than half at Amazon) on a glossy book. Not to be indulging in clichés but I always enjoy the fish-out-of-the-water feeling I get whenever I spend some time in the Military History section of a bookshop. I look around me and mostly I see middle-age men. Sometimes younger, but definitely always men. I feel like such an impostor, browsing the shelves for ulterior motives and not because of a true passion for German tanks.
Self-conscious bookshop experiences aside, this little book is exactly what it says on the tin, which was what I was looking for. Part of the Osprey Campaign military series, it provides with (mostly) clear information and useful maps and things like list of the officers in the regiments (which is very inspirational if you are trying to pick names for the supporting characters). I did not mind too much that the author's take on the Cromwell campaign in Ireland was so different from mine - he glossed over Cromwell's military skills and overlooks the atrocities he comminted. But I don't get bummed over these things anymore, after reading 20+ books on the subject, I've started to tune those things off.
It is a rather slim and basic volume but since I intended to use it as a tool that was exactly what I was looking for. A good buy, despite the price.
Links: One interesting review at Wikio, where the user summarizes the content in detail.
Summary (from Random House):
ABOUT THIS BOOK
Following the execution of King Charles I in January 1649, the English Parliament saw their opportunity to launch an assault on the Royalist enclave in Ireland. Oliver Cromwell was appointed as Deputy of Ireland to lead a campaign to restore direct control and quell the Confederate opposition.
The first battle in Cromwell's bloody offensive was at Drogheda, where an assault on the city walls resulted in the slaughter of almost 4000 defenders and inhabitants. The Parliamentary troops then proceeded to Wexford where battle once again lead to a massacre. After Cromwell returned to England, his son-in-law, Henry Ireton, continued the operation which ended with the surrender of Galway in 1652 and led to the Act for the Settlement of Ireland, in which Irish Royalists and Confederates were evicted and their lands 'settled' by those who had advanced funds to Parliament.
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