Biographies

THE AGE OF NAPOLEON is the biography of an enigmatic and legendary personality as well as the portrait of an entire age. J. Christopher Herold tells the fascinating story of the Napoleonic world in all its aspects — political, cultural, military, commercial, and social. Napoleon's rise from common origins to enormous political and military power, as well as his ultimate defeat, influenced our modern age in thousands of ways, from the map of Europe to the metric system, from styles of dress and dictators to new conventions of personal behavior.

GMM - I have the original 1963 printing in my collection.

This easy read is fast paced, covers all the important facts, and is so well organized that it could be used as a general reference book. It is not a military history-campaigns and battles are covered only briefly. The focus is on how Napoleon came to power; how he ruled; and his long-term, nonmilitary achievements, such as the Code Napoleon, reforming the education system, and rebuilding the French economic infrastructure. The author does not avoid the many controversies that have surrounded the man, nor does he gloss over Napoleon's blunders. One section is devoted to his three major mistakes: the closing of the European markets to Great Britain, the invasion and subsequent quagmire in Spain, and the disastrous 1812 invasion of Russia. Markham also turns a critical eye toward the errors made during the Waterloo campaign. The book ends with a brief look at Napoleon's exile on Saint Helena that addresses his treatment by the British and provides updated information on whether or not he was murdered. The chapters are relatively short and packed with relevant information, and each one provides a superb summary of salient points. Those looking for a quick reference book will be pleased by the logical organization and detailed index, both of which permit readers to find information quickly.

Napoleon for Dummies is the perfect book for someone who wants to get the lowdown on Napoleon. It combines outstanding scholarship with the easy-reading style associated with the Dummies series, and takes the reader beyond the stereotypes to the real Napoleon.

The 200-year biography of a family, from its obscure origins in Corsica, thorugh its dazzling apotheosis in the person of the Emperor, to its present-day European and American descendants.

GMM - I have the original 1966 printing in my collection.

At one time, it was said that "there are three great powers in Europe: Britain, Russia and Madame de Staël." Outspoken, childish, intelligent, she lived in a tornado of social engagements, political intrigue, literary work, and love affairs. Fairweather's biography rewardingly chronicles her long career, from busy days at the court of Louis XVI through the French Revolution, the Terror, and the rise and fall of the Napoleonic empire. Growing up, she knew Gibbon, Diderot, and D'Alembert, and met Voltaire; later her circle included Talleyrand, Wellington, Goethe, Schiller, and Byron. Her temperament was legendarily volcanic. Talleyrand, hearing that she had professed herself baffled that he could have married his unintellectual wife, commented, "To understand the full value of such peace of mind, one would have to have lived under the same roof as Madame de Staël for a month!"

At a time when military commanders in Europe were royal princes and dukes, Napoleon's marshals were often the sons of peasants or clerks. And they were usually half the age of their opponents - whom they thrashed soundly with almost monotonous regularity. This is the story of Ney, Murat, Soult, Davout, Bernadotte, Massena, Lannes, Marmont and Augereau. It took, for instance, only 23 days for the entire Prussian army to be defeated and one of the French marshals, Augereau, had the pleasure of taking prisoner the feared Prussian Guards, a regiment he had deserted 20 years earlier in order to become a dancing master. A.G. Macdonell is also the author of "England, their England".

J(oel) T(yler) Headley (1813-1897), who wrote about a dozen books of an historical nature, was an American author who lived among the generation that was born at the very end of the Napoleonic era. Headley's 2-volume work, Napoleon and His Marshals, was first published in 1846, in the United States.

GMM - I only have the scanned version of this book. :-(

Ludwig's (1881-1948) classic biography traces in scrupulous detail the man, the society, and the historical events—writing during the very next era, a proximity that affords both clarity in focus and a refreshing lack of twentieth century misinterpretation.

GMM - I have a 1953 reprint of this.

One of the better biographies written about Napoleon.

A well illustrated biography of Napoleon.

A force of nature as uncontrolled by her brother Napoleon as the Russian winter, Pauline Bonaparte captivated her peers with her beauty, boundless quest for passion, diamonds and imperiousness. The narrative by British biographer Fraser (Beloved Emma) fleshes out the privileged and politically unstable world of Pauline, who both commissioned and modeled nearly nude for Canova's symbolic marble statue Venus Victorious as a testament to herself.

A biography by one of the leading Napoleon experts.

GMM - I have the original 1973 printing of this book.

Correlli Barnett makes an interesting assessment of Napoleon Bonaparte, seeing him as a politician "on the make," with an unstable power base, rather than a charismatic soldier. In Barnett's view, Bonaparte's campaigns were politically self-serving, carried out to further his own ambition and while his forte was speed and aggression, he was a slapdash and neglectful planner - his armies starved and went barefoot.

GMM - I have the original first printing hardcover from 1978.

Dwyer focuses acutely on Napoleon’s formative years, from his Corsican origins to his French education, from his melancholy youth to his flirtation with radicals of the French Revolution, from his first military campaigns in Italy and Egypt to the political-military coup that brought him to power in 1799.

Lefebvre’s history sweeps us from the lightning coup d’état of 18 Brumaire in 1799 to his final downfall amidst the wheatfields of Waterloo. More than a biography, it is a brilliant survey of the turbulent age Napoleon inaugurated in his attempt to redraw the map of Europe, from the Peninsular War to the invasion of Russia. The cast includes his antagonists – Pitt the Younger, Wellington, Metternich and Tsar Alexander – and his allies – the wily Minister of Police Fouché and Talleyrand, the ‘Prince of Diplomats’. Lefebvre’s account is equally clear-eyed about Napoleon’s genius and his flaws. Napoleon’s determination to emulate Caesar and Augustus condemned Europe to more than a decade of war and economic crisis, but he also built an empire, introducing educational, administrative and financial initiatives that are still in place today.

Considered a classic study of the Napoleonic era, this two-volume set presents the history of a time that was dominated by Napoleon Bonaparte. The author looks at the intricate political and intellectual trends of the age, focusing on economic and social developments as well as individuals who shaped the course of events. In particular, he examines the collective life of the French people.

"In the huge canon of Napoleonic historiography [this book] occupies a commanding height. No one with a serious interest in the Napoleonic era can afford to ignore it." (London Times)

Marjorie Johnston, in Domination: Some Napoleonic Episodes (1930), speaking of the Napoleonic Era, said it was only possible while Napoleon "remained capable of dominating it, as a god dominates his creation...It was a thing so hurriedly and imperfectly conceived that it failed to justify its existence in time to save itself from destruction, but as a creation it had in it some very splendid elements." Johnston believed that 1803 was the beginning of the end for Napoleon saying it was the first time revolutionary France had deliberately sought a pretext for war.

I have the original 1930 edition hardcover.

When she married Napoleon Bonaparte in 1796, Rose de Beauharnais was a 32-year-old widow who had narrowly escaped the French Revolution's guillotine. She was six years older than he, notorious for her lovers, and unlikely to give him children, but possessed of the social connections and skills the ambitious young general thought would help him rise in the revolutionary army. He gave "his living reverie, his dream of perfect passion" a new name, Josephine--perhaps hoping it would blot out her unsavory past. Instead, she continued to be promiscuous as well as extravagant, and the marriage soured as Napoleon ascended to first consul and then emperor of the French. Yet he divorced her only in 1810, when political events made it clear he must have an heir. This highly colored biography practically wallows in Josephine's lurid personal life, colored in by luscious descriptions of the period's clothes, food, and amusements. The author, whose many previous books mostly deal with English royalty, does not burden readers with excessive doses of French history; the focus is always on Josephine, whose psychology is discussed at length. Erickson succeeds in making her subject an attractive figure, if hardly an exemplar of moral rectitude. Her book should appeal to those who like their historical biographies titillating and not too taxing.