Customer Reviews

Assassination at St. Helena Revisited

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This formidable story brings us to the magnificent life of one of the greatest heroes ever existing on earth, and of his mysterious death. It all begins on a lavish sofa at Ajjacio, Corsica, on August 15th 1769,when the second child of the Buonaparte family was born.Then it continues with his becoming general, emperor of France, and conqueror of Europe, until his disastrous attack at Moscow, his abdication, the hundred days,and his exile to a little island in the middle of the Atlantic. It culminates with his poisonment of arsenic and goes through a great detail in his last days before his death.It expands new evidence of his intoxication behind the miserable and tragic life inside the walls of Longwood. Was he really poisoned? Who was really the culprit? How can the author be sure of that? Is there a possibility that Napoleon comitted suicide? You can find all of it in this book. If you're a great admirer of this Eagle of France, I'm sure you won't regret.

This is a wonderful book for anyone who likes history and/or true crime stories. It's amazing that so little has been known about Napoleon's last days, and that so little attention has been paid to such a wonderful book that seeks to explain Napoleon's demise. Through a mix of science and story telling, Weider and Forshufvud weave a tale of intrigue and murder. Their analysis and conclusions are so compelling, and their evidence so convincing, that it would seem impossible for anyone, after reading this book, to believe anything other than Napoleon was poisoned. As someone who is trained in these same forensic sciences and investigative principles, this is a fantastic and accurate book.

This book was not exactly what I expected. I thought it would be a focused look at the reason the authors thought that Napoleon was assassinated, but much of the text is actually his campaigns and political life. It almost seems that they were trying to make the book look big by adding information that you can easily read in other texts. I really thought this one was going to be different but it fell a little short in my opinion.