Other reviewers have noted that this is a well-written book, and it is. Having recently finished Winston Spencer Churchill's much longer life of Marlborough, it seemed to me that Mr. Spencer relied heavily on Winston Churchill's prior work for facts, and sources. However, this may be unfair since both Mr. Spencer and Mr. Winston Churchill meticulously mined and primarily relied on the private material at Blenheim Castle, and as long as both of them are honest and through, it would be more surprising if their tales differed, rather than the reverse.
Mr. Spencer does not feel as great a need as Mr. Winston Churchill did to defend the reputation of his famous forebear. These slights of earlier, also partisan, writers have in general stood neither the test of time, nor in particular, the exquisitely detailed, point-by-point, refutation contained in Mr. Winston Churchill's biography of the same man. If you have been a very active general, and John Churchill was very active. If you have repeatedly fought the best generals and best armies of your time, and, John Churchill fought them all except his friend and fellow genius Prince Eugene of Savoy. And nonetheless, your biographer can still say that you never fought a battle that you did not win, nor besieged a town that you did not take, then you are indeed a Great Captain and leader of men. The Duke of Marlborough was this and much more.
Unfortunately we do not get to see the "much more" in this book. As the title indicates this is a retelling of the story of a great, complex and important battle. Blenheim was not just murder by the thousands. Like the Greatest Generation, John Churchill, the Duke of Marlborough, accomplished something truly important with his victories, and particularly with this victory. Unlike Alexander who's empire immediately disintegrated upon his death, the political results achieved by John Churchill's military prowess survived his critics and, more important, his incompetent, if not quite treasonous successors. Marlborough's great services served England for generations, and ultimately provided the man, Winston Spencer Churchill, who would quite literally save England from her greatest, most powerful enemy -Adolph Hitler.
To soundly defeat the greatest army of the age, led by a competent, respected general is always memorable. However, it should be remembered that the purpose of war is political change, not victory per se. Probably the greatest military victory ever, Hannibal's victory over the Roman Legions at Cannae is instructive. Cannae, although it was the classic battle of annihilation, had almost no effect other than to kill a lot of people. After the tragic loss, the Romans reacted like they always had: they prayed to their gods, created a new army, and appointed a new general who decisively and permanently defeated their impertinent opponent.
Given the comprehensive excellence of this, his first book of history, I can only hope that Mr. Spenser will at some time delve more deeply, much more deeply, into the enigma that is John Churchill. Like George Washington, he is a man that defies routine, as well as exceptional examinations. John Churchill was so much more than a great general. He was in fact, if not in name, a wartime Prime Minister in a two-man cabinet. He was subject to fits of depression like Lincoln, and like Lincoln, depression, even the death of a son, never interfered with his duty. In an age where men married for money or property - he married for love, and they remained in love as long as they lived. Who was this man? I hope that Charles Spenser one-day answers this question as well as he has answered why Blenheim was, the Battle for Europe.
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