Average customer rating:
- Readable, but one-sided
- Pretty good, but not perfect
- Readable, despite flaws...
- Garbage
- 200 years and still controversal
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Napoleon Bonaparte: A Life
Alan Schom
Manufacturer: Harper Perennial
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The Rise of Napoleon Bonaparte
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Napoleon: A Political Life
ASIN: 0060929588
Release Date: 1998-08-26 |
Amazon.com
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.
Book Description
A definitive biography of Bonaparte from his birth in Corsica to his death in exile on St Helena, this book examines all aspects of Bonaparte's spectacular rise to power and his dizzying fall. It offers close examination of battlefield victories, personal torments, military genius, Bonaparte's titanic ego and his relationships with the French government, Talleyrand, Wellington and Josephine. A consummate biography of a complex man.
Customer Reviews:
Readable, but one-sided.......2007-07-18
This is a very readable book, for which I give the author, Schom, some credit. His writing style is somewhat crude but he advances the narrative at a brisk pace, which keeps the reader interested. I managed to read all 800 pages in three weeks.
However, I ultimately came away disappointed. This is about a man for whom huge numbers of people - French and otherwise - were strongly attached to and willing to die for, yet reading this you'd be hard-pressed to understand why. The author, despite his claims of attempting to write as objective a biography as possible, clearly dislikes his subject and portrays him in an extremely harsh light. Some of his criticisms are quite legitimate and should not be glossed over, but others are downright misleading. For instance, Schom repeatedly argues that Napoleon's wars were all of his own making (the words "pointless" and "useless" get used a lot), yet in many cases he went to war only after an act of belligerence on the part of another country. Schom makes a big deal of peace offerings made to Napoleon that he passed up - especially one offered by Britain in 1806 - overlooking the fact that France had signed a number of such treaties since the mid-1790s, only to face war against the same country within a few years. Schom seems to regard all peace initiatives made by France as false and nothing more than respites from fighting, when the same could almost certainly be said of his rivals' initiatives.
Schom also largely glosses over Napoleon's civil accomplishments, both domestic and foreign. Schom flatly states that he undid everything the Revolution accomplished, ignoring the fact that Napoleon upheld the principle of equality before the law and the tax collector - revolutionary ideas for his day - and granted complete freedom of religion for Protestants and Jews. His Civil Code - which still forms the basis of many countries' legal systems - is hardly mentioned at all. And that he abolished serfdom and instituted freedom of religion in his conquered territories is not mentioned. This is disappointing, especially when Schom emphasizes time and again the harsher aspects of his civil rule (mainly taxation and conscription). That all of his enemies, with the possible exception of Britain, were considerably more reactionary politically is not mentioned, either.
In short, this is a legitimately interesting book to read (my only complaint from that standpoint is that the maps could be better), but the author's harsh opinions about his subject cause him to omit important information that would provide the reader with a more balanced view.
Pretty good, but not perfect.......2007-06-17
A very negative view of Napoleon, however possibly the most accurate. Though the author continues to consider Napoleon as a military genius, he focuses on failures such as Egypt, the English Channel, Russia, and Waterloo. Clearly the accounts of Field Marshall Davout success despite being severely outnumbered subtract from Napoleon's brilliance. It would of been a grand addition for a chapter on him as their was on Fouche.
Most opposed to this account of Napoleon do not wish to acknowledge that he was bad enough to: have Europe align against him, his warmongering, his manipulation(his coup d'etat alone shows manipulation), a crushed European economy, etc.
In many ways this book can be seen as overly negative, but i can imagine it only counteracts all the overly positive accounts of his life. Perhaps this book with one of the more positive accounts of Napoleons life would give you the most precise understanding possible of Napoleon, a real man, not a mythical hero, legend, or tyrant.
For those who believe Schom is simply out to get Napoleon/France, the Germanic name would lead me to believe he's already been satisfied twice over.
Readable, despite flaws..........2007-05-16
I am not student enough of Napoleon Bonaparte to determine whether Schom's biography was "overly" negative. Thus, to comment on this unexpected controversy, as others have done, would be improper. Suffice it to say that the book is largely readable if lacking the excitement one would expect from such a life. It hovers just above average in it's ability to generate page-turning momentum.
Where the book falters most blatantly is in the maps Schom chose to accompany his battlefied narratives. These maps show no troop movements whatsoever and in many instances show no troop locations either. Napoleon's military genius (or extraordinary luck, according to Schom) is constantly referred to, therefore it is more than annoying that no one thought to strategically plot Austerlitz, Smolensk, Leipzig, or even Waterloo cartographically. It *is* Napoleon, for crying out loud.
Bonaparte's civil and military subordinates receive ample space as do the various loves of his life. Josephine is portrayed somewhat less flatteringly than posterity would generally admit. Indeed, no one on the side of empire is given so much as a kudo outside the invincible Marshal Davout. But, then, world domination rarely has it's retrospective proponents.
I enjoyed the book though I pecked at it occasionally as, in places, it became something of a chore. The knowledge gleaned was a definite plus, but, for reasons acknowledged, I would be hard-pressed to rate Napoleon Bonaparte: A Life anything above 3 stars.
Garbage.......2007-01-09
This book is garbage the author really seems to hate Napoleon, and think all his genius was luck, everything about the bonapartes is evil according to this author. I'd pay more for paper towels than this book
200 years and still controversal.......2006-12-22
I have mixed feelings about this book. I think it was a good read, but very anti-Bonaparte. It is a measure of this man that he can spark such angry commentaries almost 200 years after his death.
The contrast between this book and earlier efforts such as "Anatomy of Glory" and "The Campaigns of Napoleon" is quite striking.
I would not read this book in isolation, but as a counter-balance to other more pro-Napoleon biographies.
Bonaparte was far too complicated a man and ruler to be simplistically portrayed as either all bad or all good.
Average customer rating:
- An Exemplary Political Biography of an Exceptional Man
- Simply put, an excellent read in content, wisdom and prose.
- Less political than you might think
- Good, incomplete view
- Americans, Fill a Gap in Your Knowledge of Europe
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Napoleon: A Political Life
Steven Englund
Manufacturer: Harvard University Press
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ASIN: 0674018036 |
Book Description
This sophisticated and masterful biography, written by a respected French history scholar who has taught courses on Napoleon at the University of Paris, brings new and remarkable analysis to the study of modern history's most famous general and statesman.
Since boyhood, Steven Englund has been fascinated by the unique force, personality, and political significance of Napoleon Bonaparte, who, in only a decade and a half, changed the face of Europe forever. In Napoleon: A Political Life, Englund harnesses his early passion and intellectual expertise to create a rich and full interpretation of a brilliant but flawed leader.
Napoleon believed that war was a means to an end, not the end itself. With this in mind, Steven Englund focuses on the political, rather than the military or personal, aspects of Napoleon's notorious and celebrated life. Doing so permits him to arrive at some original conclusions. For example, where most biographers see this subject as a Corsican patriot who at first detested France, Englund sees a young officer deeply committed to a political event, idea, and opportunity (the French Revolution) -- not to any specific nationality. Indeed, Englund dissects carefully the political use Napoleon made, both as First Consul and as Emperor of the French, of patriotism, or "nation-talk."
As Englund charts Napoleon's dramatic rise and fall -- from his Corsican boyhood, his French education, his astonishing military victories and no less astonishing acts of reform as First Consul (1799-1804) to his controversial record as Emperor and, finally, to his exile and death -- he is at particular pains to explore the unprecedented power Napoleon maintained over the popular imagination. Alone among recent biographers, Englund includes a chapter that analyzes the Napoleonic legend over the course of the past two centuries, down to the present-day French Republic, which has its own profound ambivalences toward this man whom it is afraid to recognize yet cannot avoid. Napoleon: A Political Life presents new consideration of Napoleon's adolescent and adult writings, as well as a convincing argument against the recent theory that the Emperor was poisoned at St. Helena. The book also offers an explanation of Napoleon's role as father of the "modern" in politics.
What finally emerges from these pages is a vivid and sympathetic portrait that combines youthful enthusiasm and mature scholarly reflection. The result is already regarded by experts as the Napoleonic bicentennial's first major interpretation of this perennial subject.
Customer Reviews:
An Exemplary Political Biography of an Exceptional Man .......2006-07-10
Steven Englund's Napoleon: A Political Life (available in paperback from Harvard) is a book that should satisfy both the interested lay reader and the professional historian.
It will satisfy the lay person because it tells a fascinating story about one of history's most interesting and influential human beings, and it tells it exceptionally well. In the process, the reader will gain insights into how a topflight scholar advances his or her field of knowledge.
It will please academics because Englund presents a nuanced revision of the current myths about Napoleon, who, after two hundred years, still stirs passions among his admirers and detractors as though he were living today. The author focuses on Napoleon's evolving political thought and strategy and how his contemporaries actually responded to him, not how we wished they had responded to him. A virtue is that Englund avoids smoothing out Napoleon's past choices and actions through hindsight: Englund emphasizes that actual history is messy; it doesn't come in tidy packages.
The greatest of men, the very few like Napoleon, leave behind an altered world. Englund draws on Christian Meier's masterful biography of Caesar. He frequently compares Napoleon to Caesar, but Napoleon left behind many more permanent structures in France and across Europe thna Caesar did Rome: law code, a system to govern the localities from the center, the Legion of Honor, and in Paris, monuments and buildings and sewer system and roads.
People who won't like the book will most likely object to two things.
(1) It's not a history primer. Englund assumes the reader is conversant with eighteenth-century history history though not at the level of the professional historian.
(2) Englund devotes almost as much time to wars and battles as he does to other issues, both domestic and international. But, especially when discussing Napoleon and his times, Clausewitz was right: war is an extension ofpolitics.
Another objection may be that Englund doesn't condemn Napoleon roundly enough. He admires him but sees what disaster his overweening ambition led him to in the
end.
Highly recommended.
Simply put, an excellent read in content, wisdom and prose........2006-05-08
Simply put, an excellent read in content, wisdom and prose.
Less political than you might think.......2005-04-24
I came to this book thinking that it would focus entirely on the political dimension of Napoleon's life. This is not the case. Napoleon: A Political Life might exclude the word 'political' from its title and be just as fitting, for Englund spends a great deal of time on Napoleon's relations with Josephine, his brothers, the exiles, etc.. In fact, in the introduction (at the end of the book), Englund states that he almost subtitled the book "Empire of Circumstance."
The great strength of the book is its writing style. Englund really captures the drama of the Little Corsican's life, and he sweeps the reader up in it. All of the politics of Napoleon's life is, as you would expect, well covered, but so is his personal and military life. Never did I feel overburdened with detail, and never was the text wanting for humour.
There is, however, some merit in the argument posted by some of the other reviewers that the book assumes too much in the way of background knowledge. This is not an introduction to Napoleon for the novice. While I would not go so far as to say that you need have already read another book on Napoleon to enjoy Englund's work, you should certainly have a reasonable idea of the political zeitgeist he worked in, particularly the French revolution and the foreign (especially British) reaction to it. Ideally, you should also have taken a course in French at some point in your life (and not completely forgotten it). Englund has a somewhat irritating habit of dropping les mots francais at random, and often without translation (although most of the more important French phrases are translated, most of the minor ones are not). C'est la vie.
One of my favourite parts of the book was the analysis of Napoleon's legacy: his admirers and detractors, whence he is glorified, and whence he is ignored. Englund is the most balanced Napoleonic author I have yet encountered, seeming to genuinely sympathize with (and synthesize from) those who love and those who hate the l'Empereur.
Perhaps the highest compliment for a book, I plan to reread this one.
Good, incomplete view.......2004-11-09
The key to understanding this book is its subtitle: A Political Life. Don't make this your first book on Napoleon. The author is standing on the shoulders of giants, and using the volumes of information that came before him as a starting point in the conversation. He doesn't attempt to provide details on Napoleon's military career, his personal life, The French Revolution, or the state of Europe before or after Napoleon. This is a decent book, as long as you understand it is not intended to be "Napoleon: The Compete Story".
Americans, Fill a Gap in Your Knowledge of Europe.......2004-09-27
Many of us in the U.S., Canada & Mexico, trace our genealogy, culture and religion to Europe. Yet, many Gen-Xers and younger cannot name more than 2 or 3 European capitols. We frustrate the Europeans as much as they frustrate us. To know European history is to understand current trans-Atlantic relations. How can we bridge this gap to our cousins across the pond? Steve Englund's "Napoleon" is a great place to start. No period has had a greater impact on European thought than the 1770's through 1815. Englund brings the reader into the eye of the hurricane.
The author assumes that the reader has completed "Intro to European History 101" at the college level. Englund quickly moves the reader from the banal "Who and What" of history to the intriguing "Why?". Englund's facts and research are impeccable, yet he writes in the humanistic style of a novelist. The book portrays Napoleon not as the brooding figure on horseback, but as the driven immigrant-reformer, speaking accented French, who rises to become Emperor. Napoleon is seen as a tyrannical son of Mars, yet also enlightened governmental innovator. Start your own enlightment with Englund's book.
Average customer rating:
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Life of Napoleon Bonaparte, Part 1
William M. Sloane
Manufacturer: Kessinger Publishing
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ASIN: 0766139425 |
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1894. Other volumes in this set include ISBN number(s): 0766139433, 0766139441, 076613945X. Volume 1 of 4. An investigation into the truth behind the life and man. The author claims to be an independent investigator in some of the most important portions of the field he covers. His researches have extended over many years and he was able to use original materials never before viewed by the public. He has also taken material from published monographs and technical journals, sifted the fact from the fiction, and presents the same in these works. Beautifully illustrated.
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Boy Life Of Napoleon Afterwards Emperor Of The French
Eugenie Foa
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ASIN: 1419154990 |
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Full title: BOY LIFE OF NAPOLEON Afterwards Emperor Of The French Adapted And Extended For American Boys And Girls From The French Of Madame Eugenie Foa Author Of "Little Princes And Princesses Young Warriors," "Little Robinson," Etc. Illustrated By Vesper L George.
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Full title: BOY LIFE OF NAPOLEON Afterwards Emperor Of The French Adapted And Extended For American Boys And Girls From The French Of Madame Eugenie Foa Author Of "Little Princes And Princesses Young Warriors," "Little Robinson," Etc. Illustrated By Vesper L George.
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Life and Adventures of Count Beugnot, Minister of State under Napoleon I: Volume 1
Claude Beugnot
Manufacturer: Adamant Media Corporation
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ASIN: 1402195214
Release Date: 2001-10-03 |
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This Elibron Classics book is a facsimile reprint of a 1871 edition by Hurst and Blackett, London.
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This Elibron Classics book is a facsimile reprint of a 1871 edition by Hurst & Blackett, London.
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The Life of Napoleon Buonaparte: Volume 1
William Hazlitt
Manufacturer: Adamant Media Corporation
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ASIN: 1402195249
Release Date: 2001-10-03 |
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This Elibron Classics book is a facsimile reprint of a 1847 edition by Wiley and Putnam, New York.
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The Life of Napoleon Buonaparte: Volume 2
William Hazlitt
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ASIN: 1402195230
Release Date: 2001-10-03 |
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This Elibron Classics book is a facsimile reprint of a 1847 edition by Wiley and Putnam, New York.
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This Elibron Classics book is a facsimile reprint of a 1912 edition by G. Bell and Sons, Ltd., London.
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The Life of Napoleon I, Including New Materials from the British Official Records: Volume 2
John Holland Rose
Manufacturer: Adamant Media Corporation
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ASIN: 0543951235
Release Date: 2000-05-30 |
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This Elibron Classics book is a facsimile reprint of a 1912 edition by G. Bell and Sons, Ltd., London.
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Captain Bligh and Mr.Christian
Richard Hough
Manufacturer: Chatham Publishing
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ASIN: 1861761325 |
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The mutiny on the Bounty has fascinated readers for more than two hundred years, but no other book on this extraordinary episode in maritime history tells the story as well as this masterly and thrilling account by Richard Hough. He has set down all the aspects of the extraordinary story in a manner that is utterly compelling, and he has brought alive the powerful characters who played out the events. Highly touted when first published in 1972, it is an epic drama of courage, discovery, deceit, and treachery. The story of Fletcher Christian and the rest of the mutineers' discovery of an uninhabited island and their attempt to fashion a community away from the pursuing ships of the Royal Navy is as tense as it is horrific. Captain Bligh's remarkable 3,600-mile voyage to Timor in the ship's open launch is fully described as one of the great feats of navigation. The dismal episode of the Pandora and the remarkable survival of one of the mutineers add further fascinating twists to the story.
Customer Reviews:
Captain Bligh and Mr Christian homosexual lovers?.......2002-03-03
This is an entertaining if odd little book and is much overated. I had two problems with it: 1) There are no footnotes but all sorts of two-hundred year old dialogue provided. The author has verbatim discussions taking place on the remote island that certainly could not have been recorded (but how would we know since none of it is footnoted?). Mostly, the author made it up it seems and the device shadows the credibility of the whole book. 2) And if I was not incredulous enough over the history-as-soap opera style, the author saves his blockbuster thesis for the last chapter. He agues that the crusty Captain Bligh and Spencer Christian were really gay lovers and this explains the combustibility and passions that came into play. Bligh according to this view was jealous of Christian's love affair with the Tahitian girl he later fathered three children with. The author offers not one shred of evidence for this, not one shred, and says as much in the final pages of the book. This book has an amateurish feel, written by an author who got away for too long with writing pseudo-histories. This book is not without redeeming qualities; it certainly is interesting and a good read. The 1984 movie The Bounty was based on this account, though the movie, mercifully, skipped over some of Robert Blough's more nutty conclusions.
Epic story.......2002-02-12
The Bounty mutiny is perhaps the most fascinating and stirring sea adventure in world history, even more so than the TITANIC. Hough's book is an excellent reexamination of the story and of the complex relationship between William Bligh and Fletcher Christian. While I don't agree with Hough's conclusions as to what was really at the heart of the mutiny (I won't spoil it for you by revealing that here) the relationship was combustible and was at the heart of the mutiny.
The Bounty crew were for the most part hand-picked and young. Christian was only in his early 20s, Bligh was in his early 30s and only a very few of the crew were in their late 30s or early 40s. Despite the popular image of the story, Bligh was actually pretty lenient with his crew when it came to punishment and he made it all the way to Tahiti losing only a single man. During his epic open boat voyage after the mutiny, he made it to Coupang having lost only one man en route, although many of the survivors died within weeks of their rescue. Bligh was a complainer, a nagger and had a viciously sharp tongue though which was more than the youthful Christian could bear.
Far from the heroic image that Christian is given in the movies, Hough shows that Christian was impulsive and not much of a leader. While Bligh, sharp tongue and all, was able to save nearly all of the men who were kicked off the ship with him, Christian and his men met with disaster at almost every turn, primarily because Christian was a failure as a leader. The mutineers' disastrous attempt to settle on Pitcairn Island is perhaps the most gripping and fascinating part of the story.
Hough's book is excellent and the Mel Gibson/Anthony Hopkins movie "The Bounty" was based on it and is by far the most authentic and best of the Bounty movies.
Great reading!.......2001-07-14
I agree with the previous reviews.I want to add that this book is the basis of the Gibson/Hopkins movie "The Bounty" Also, that the enjoyment and education I received in reading this book caused me to search for other Bounty related material.
The Reasons Why........2001-05-17
Psychological insight combined with compelling storytelling make this account of the most famous mutiny in history thrilling reading 30 years after its original publication. The whole story is here in a brisk 300 pages that one regrets to have finished. Scrupulously fair to all concerned, more interested in exploring the causes of this tragedy than in assessing blame, with keen psychological discernment in limning the characters of Bligh (a truly Jeckyl and Hyde phenomenom) and Christian (beautiful, charming and weak), with a final last chapter hypothesis that is as stunning as it is plausible; but as the author admits, the reasons for this strange mutiny are ultimately unprovable. All the great mysteries, like the Kennedy assassination and the Bounty mutiny, are in the end unsolvable and that is what makes them so compelling. Thirty years on this vivid and acute examination of a certain unpleasantness in the south Pacific in 1789 must be judged a classic. I finished it with goosebumps on my flesh.
Product Description
Captain Bligh & Mr. Christian the men and the mutiny. Text has 20 b/w photos and other illustrations.
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