Mountbatten

<p>Was he a far-sighted war hero or an ambitious networker promoted well above his natural talent? Admired as a modernising chief of staff a timely decoloniser and a genuine player on the world stage Mountbatten nevertheless continues to attract fierce criticism. In this timely new biography Adrian Smith offers a fresh and convincing perspective depicting Mountbatten as a quintessentially modern highly professional figure within the Royal Navy and at Combined Operations and SE Asia Command a hands-on officer who enthusiastically embraced new technology; someone who although an aristocrat was by instinct a progressive innovative in his approach to man management. Smith brings Mountbatten to life acknowledging the essential qualities as well as the obvious weaknesses. Beneath the rich vain often ruthless embodiment of power and privilege could be found a very human even vulnerable character - the complex personality of a pivotal figure in the history of twentieth-century Britain and her empire.</p>