While some authors do as you have said, the good ones don't.

Regarding Swords, the following is submitted:

'The master has not lost his touch. Colonel Elting's Swords Around A Throne now takes first place among the books, in any language, on Napoleon's great military establishment, the Grand Army.-Hugh S. Bonar, Jr., California State University, Los Angeles.

'Without doubt, Colonel Elting has written the definitive work on the Grande Armee. And it is superb reading, by turns anecdotal, descriptive, or analytical, with narrative segments that roll like cavalry charges. Elting is a master historian.-Owen Connelly.

'Col John Elting's book will immediately become the most authoritative volume in the English language on Napoleon's Grande Armee. This massive study is packed full of information and details about the creation and operation of each component of Europe's greatest army-from headquarters to the commissariat to the postal system. In all, a brilliant contribution of immense volue to any scholar or buff of the Napoleonic period.'-Donald D. Howard, Florida State University.

'Colonel Elting drawing on his vast experience both as a soldier and a military author, examines Napoleon's army from its revolutionary origins to the last days of the empire, looking at officers and men, the various arms and their equipment, administration and supporting services, as well as daily life in camp and on campaign. Based on massive research, Elting has written a definitive work that fills a major gap in the literature and will become must reading for military historians, buffs, and wargamers alike.-Gunther Rothenberg.