Before You Begin

Before you begin.

Charles James Napier grew up in the Irish village of Celbridge, in a family shaped by military service, reading, and lively public debate. William Francis Butler begins his biography at the family home and follows Napier from an early army commission into a long career of campaigns and command.

The narrative moves across Europe and the Mediterranean before turning to Scinde, where military operations and civil administration brought Napier into contact with societies whose histories and interests the book often describes through a British imperial lens. Butler writes with admiration for his subject; his judgments belong to the biographer and his age.

The portraits and maps that follow are guides to the people and places named in the opening chapters. Each recap appears after the chapter it summarizes, so the account can unfold in its own order.