Description

Rating: Not rated

Tags: Biography, History, Lang:en

Summary

From humble beginnings on the island of Corsica, Napoleon became ruler of France and pursued a military strategy of expansion fed by his lust for power over all Europe as a ‘new Alexander the Great’.

In this classic biograpy, Alan Schom chronicles the battles and conquests which Napoleon led, and offers portraits of Napoleon’s chief generals and statesmen, including Talleyrand and Fouché. More than a description of men, it is a telling of a fierce period in European history.

There is also an account of Napoleon’s final days, during which he was poisoned. Schom lists the suspects in the murder, which brought an end to the life of a controversial figure who made huge territorial gains for the New Republic of France.

The life of Napoleon Bonaparte is an extremely thorough account by Alan Schom in which he gives ‘a balanced insight’ into the man and his actions.

“A rip-roaring yarn...a vast dramatis personae of emperors and princesses, marshals and bishops, mistresses and murderers...Napoleon does, as it claims, present the whole Napoleon, the public and the private face...Schom has a lively style, and a neat turn of phrase, and his book reads well.” — Robert Gildea, New York Times Book Review

“Meticulously researched...Schom presents a rounded portrait not only of Napoleon but also of the principal figures in his extraordinary life...and brilliantly presents Napoleon’s life while appropriately deflating his legend.” — Dan Wick, Washington Post Book World

“Polished, scholarly, and successful.” — Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker

“Superb. Mr. Schom has achieved every historian’s dream; using exemplary scholarship to write a page-turning bestseller.” — Len Deighton, historian and novelist

“A badly needed comprehensive, one-volume life...[Napoleon] does a magnificent job of covering the full sweep of Napoleon’s career.” — John Maxwell Hamilton, Chicago Tribune

“Vigorously researched and often brilliantly written...[an] ultimately balanced, no-nonsense portrait that has the benefit of 20th-century science.” — Carolyn Nizzi Warmbold, Atlanta Journal/Atlanta Constitution

“Schom has a lively style...His technique...is very effective...[Napoleon] is a timely book.” — Gregor Dallas, Los Angeles Times Book Review

Alan Schom was a professor of French and European history before retiring to write full-time. He is the author of Emile Zola: A Biography and Trafalgar.

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Amazon.com Review

You won't come away from this energetic biography thinking much of the French emperor either as a man or as a general. Historian Alan Schom depicts Napoleon (1769-1821) as a cold-hearted manipulator: Schom's blistering accounts of the 1798-99 Egyptian campaign and the disastrous 1812 retreat from Russia show the French army decimated due to its leader's failure to inform himself about the lands he was invading or to properly plan for provisioning his troops. The fun of this book comes from vigorous prose that vividly evokes Bonaparte's titanic personality and the colorful band of schemers surrounding him.

From Library Journal

Until now, there has been no comprehensive, one-volume biography on Napoleon. This book ably fills that gap. Napoleonic scholar Schom (One Hundred Days, Atheneum, 1992) has written an objective account, describing the strengths and weaknesses of his complex subject and his tremendous impact on Europe. Unique to this book are the insightful discussions of Napoleon's relationships with his family, wives, mistresses, and other luminaries of the day and his little-known friendship with a leading French mathematician, Gaspard Monge. The author contends that Napoleon was a paranoiac psychopath, and he uses numerous examples of kidnappings, murders, lies, and wars brought on by the Corsican to illustrate his case. He was also sadistic in his persecution of various individuals, from a simple German bookseller to his own brother Lucien. A wonderful biography; highly recommended.?David Lee Poremba, Detroit P.L.
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