Napoleon Against Himself: A Psychobiography [Hardcover]

Avner Falk (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 15, 2007

A most stimulating and original work that sheds much needed light on Napoleon's troubled inner world, Avner Falk's biography examines Napoleon's family background, infancy, childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and death and offers new and novel explanations for his numerous irrational, self-defeating, and self-destructive actions.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Avner Falk is an internationally known scholar in the fields of psychohistory, psychobiography, and political psychology. His previous books include Fratricide in the Holy Land, Herzl, King of the Jews, and A Psychoanalytic History of the Jews. He lives in Jerusalem, Israel.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 543 pages
• Publisher: Pitchstone Publishing; First Edition edition (August 15, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0972887563
• ISBN-13: 978-0972887564
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,769,152 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Dr. Avner Falk is an internationally-known Israeli scholar in the interdisciplinary fields of psychohistory and political psychology. He has published dozens of articles and ten books in these fields, as well as in psychobiography, psychogeography, the psychoanalysis of literature, and other areas of applied psychoanalysis. He has also had a long career as a psychotherapist. He was born in Palestine in 1943, graduated from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, in 1966 and received his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1970. He lives in Jerusalem. His latest books are "Franks and Saracens," a psychohistory of the Crusades, published by Karnac Books, and "The Riddle of Barack Obama," a psychobiography, published by Praeger.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not What I'd Hoped For, Yet Interesting, March 23, 2009

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Diane Scott Lewis "Author of ELYSIUM" (Locust Grove, VA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Napoleon Against Himself: A Psychobiography (Hardcover)

I bought this book to gain insight into Napoleon's character. But the author relies too much on the belief that Napoleon grew up feeling rejected by his mother. I've read much on Napoleon, and though this may have been part of it, it was hardly the only deciding factor.

It's an interesting read, but ultimately disappointing. There is so much material on Napoleon, but I felt that the author hid behind the "mother complex" to avoid delving into other aspects to explain Napoleon's driving ambition, and basic insecurity.