How to Make War [Paperback]

Napoleon Bonaparte (Author), Napoleon (Author), Keith Sanborn (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1998

Literary Nonfiction. NAPOLEON: HOW TO MAKE WAR lists the general's 111 maxims for combat, divided into the categories General Principles, Offensive and Defensive. Translated by Keith Sanborn from the 1973 French collection "Comment faire la guerre" by Yann Cloarec. Also contains an essay by Sanborn on the intersection of Napoleon, DeBord and Paul Virillo entitled "Postcards from the Berezina."

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

How To Make War lists the general's 111 maxims for combat, something he knew quite a bit about. The 1973 collection also contains an essay by translator Sanborn. The 1934 Letters volume corals his correspondence with family members and other soldiers and politicos.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From the Back Cover

Based on the radical revaluation of Napoleonic thinking published in France by ditions Champ Libre in 1973, this new translation-the first in nearly a century-makes possible for the English-speaking world the first critical reassessment of Napoleon's own reflections on the art of war since their original appearance in English in 1831. This new edition is significantly more comprehensive than any previous English Language edition of the "military maxims" of Napoleon. But more importantly, while adhering to a military principle of classification, it fundamentally reorders Napoleonic texts to bring an active practice of reading to what has previously been passively received as timeless wisdom, or buried among the trivia of obsolete tactical considerations. This volume incorporates the French editor's original statement and brief notes as well as an essay by the translator, situating the thought of Napoleon in the context of "postmodern" war and its continuation as politics.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 166 pages
• Publisher: Ediciones La Calavera (October 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0964228424
• ISBN-13: 978-0964228429
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,454,651 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Translation: Fine. Leftist Commentary: Unnecessary Bulk, September 2, 2009

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Alaric - See all my reviews

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This review is from: How to Make War (Paperback)

The translation itself is fine, there are no issues on this count. The binding and typeset are all in order and attractive as a professionally released publication ought to be. Nothing justifies half the book's total length consisting in a series of barely on topic, asinine marxo-freudo commentary following Napoleon's maxims. It is difficult to pin the publisher's motives down on this count, but leaving the second half of the volume filled with the same number of pages left BLANK would have accommodated annotations and have left the volume at a pleasant size and weight, without the devaluing intellectual nonsense they bothered to add printed on those pages. Buy for Napoleon's words, but not for the second half.

16 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Collected Wit, June 12, 2002

By 

GEORGE R. FISHER (Boston MA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: How to Make War (Paperback)

Napolean is full of bon mots I have often quoted, wondering where to find the source.

This is the source.

Comments about conquering the whole world if only he had enough ribbon and his indictment of commanding generals who blame their superiors for ordering them to lead their armies to disaster. And others.

Perhaps not everyone views the world as a military metaphor but I do and Buonaparte has a lot to say on the subject.