GOD is not too strong a word, either, in a phrase coined by the poet Byron for a man revered as Britain's greatest warrior, who enabled this country to survive the challenge of total war and isolation.

Lambert, professor of naval history at King's College in London, tells what made Nelson so special, with a unique gift to take what other commanders found complex and reduce it to simplicity.

And while others saw a battle as an end in itself, Nelson was always a step ahead, even amid the terror of close-quarter action.

A tremendous, action-packed story of a true hero.

Nelson: Britannia's God Of War, by Andrew Lambert (Faber & Faber, £8.99)