The Illustrious Dead by Stephan Talty

I finished The Illustrious Dead by Stephan Talty.  The subheading is The Terrifying Story of How Typhus Killed Napoleon's Greatest Army.  It is a good read with some issues.  

An excellent recap of the 1812 Invasion of Russia by Napoleon.  A good chronicle of the challenges and battles.  Good research.  Good secondary sources.

The reservation is that Talty is both arguing that Typhus destroyed Napoleon's Grande Armée while simultaneously acknowledging that its destruction occurred for several reasons.  Specifically, the 650,000 man army was essentially obliterated (perhaps 50,000 survivors) owing to battlefield losses, exhaustion, hunger and starvation, other communicable diseases such as smallpox, bad habitation, and extreme cold.  

Were a modern data autopsy possible, my guess would be that the different causes yielded

Battlefield losses - 125,000 dead

Typhus - 125,000

Other diseases - 125,000

Hunger & Starvation - 100,000

Cold - 75,000

Exhaustion - 50,000

But that's a guess.  The point is that Typhus did not kill Napoleon's army.  Napoleon's hubris did.  

And typhus was a significant contributor to the overall destruction of the army but as one among several factors.  

Talty's narrative loses steam when he focuses on justifying the claim that typhus was The Killer but he is a good enough historian to include all the evidence which suggests that it was one among several killers.  

He has some good medical history along the way and some good addendum's up into the 20th century.  

A good book, an enjoyable read, good history.