***1/2
This follows the form and style of Esposito's very similar book on Wellington's infantry. I enjoyed both books and learned a good deal from them. So that's good!
But there are some less good things: the plentiful 'uniform plates' (as they used to be called) bear too little relation, in terms of placement in the book, to the text, are all public domain, and are sometimes, effectively speaking, repeated (the same unit being depicted by differing artists, for example).
Also some of the information would've been better conveyed via tables or lists rather than long form text (e.g. enumerating all the minutiae of uniform and/or equipment details), esp' as in long form the frequent repetition of certain stuff gets a bit monotonous.
But overall the information conveyed is pretty comprehensive, wide-ranging and thorough. The evolution of the French infantry from royal, via revolutionary, to full blown 'Napoleonic' is, to a nerdy buff like me, fascinating. And Esposito covers everything from internal auxiliary type French troops to the many foreign so,divers that France employed.
Not perfect, but an attractive, informative and enjoyable addition to the Nappy buff's uniformology library.
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