Harry Flashman is perhaps the most despicable protagonist in all of fiction. A scoundrel, coward, bully, rapist, racist, and all around bad egg, he is (in fiction) setting down his honest memoirs after a career in the service of the British Empire. Despite his thorough horribleness, the Flash is at least amusing in his base animal appetites for wine, women, and the esteem of his peers.

As a soldier of Empire, Flash was present at any military disaster of note in the 19th century. The first book starts off with a bang with the first Anglo-Afghan War. Flashman, rapidly expelled from Rugby, and exiled from Lord Cardigan's 11th Cavalry, is dispatched to India, where a talent for languages sees him assigned to Elphinstone's expedition. If you read wikipedia, you know how the main story goes, with a British army cuts to shreds in the high passes. Flash narrowly survives, and comes out a hero through repeated instances of sheer dumb luck.

Quick reading, action packed, and delightfully cynical, the Flashman series is historical fiction that holds up.