Conversations with Wellington 1831-1851, by Philip Henry, Earl Stanhope (Prion, £10 in UK)

Earl Stanhope wrote down his conversations with Wellington from 1831 to 1851, by which year the Great Duke was a very old man, but still a lucid one. They range over a wide spectrum of politics, war and social history, including several of Wellington's pronouncements on Napoleon - whose genius he never denied, though he thought him guilty of wishful thinking. There are many memories of Wellington's military past, but also his views on contemporary British politics, including his fears at the growth of "Popery", even if he supported Catholic Emancipation. Much of the book is about social life, about hunting and dining out, about controversies of the day, and much of it reflects the generally conservative, even reactionary mood of the time.