Napoleon: Man of War, Man of Peace [Hardcover]

Timothy Wilson-Smith (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 22, 2002

Napoleon as a man of war was perhaps the cause of more men’s deaths than any other martial leader before him. As Timothy Wilson-Smith writes in his introduction, “The paths of glory Napoleon trod led possibly one million Frenchmen, and maybe as many as four million men from other lands, to their graves.” His peacetime accomplishments, however, still stand. Indeed, some credit him with having a vision for a united Europe that has been achieved with the European Union. In meticulous, sometimes harrowing detail, Wilson-Smith surveys Napoleon’s liberation of the continent from the old social order and the chaos he caused through years of warfare. Across Europe, in the wake of his armies, villages and cities were destroyed by cannon and fire, and thousands of people turned into refugees. The men who eventually brought Napoleon down, chief among them Castlereagh and Metternich, had a fear of social unrest and an innate conservatism. They failed to grasp that one of Napoleon’s most remarkable gifts was bringing about social changes that would outlive his own defeat. Against the horrors of Napoleon’s wars, Wilson-Smith outlines such public achievements as the Code Napoleon. Similarly, a passion for the arts led Napoleon to become a great patron of David, Ingres and Gros, and to create various societies and learned institutions that continue in his name. Capturing these contradictions, Napoleon: Man of War, Man of Peace reveals him to have been a man of truly impressive stature. Sixteen pages of black-and-white photographs add to this illuminating and lucid biography that uniquely separates and compares the Emperor's achievements in war and his legacy in peacetime.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'Timothy Wilson Smith's brief life of the emperor ...puts his military exploits into persepective.' -- Simon Scott Plummer The Tablet --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

Timothy Wilson-Smith is the author of Delacroix: A Life, which won the Yorkshire Post Art Book Award of the Year in 1992, and Napoleon and his Artists. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Carroll & Graf; 1St Edition edition (October 22, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786710896
• ISBN-13: 978-0786710898
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,982,530 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Writing - A Forgotten Art, December 26, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Napoleon: Man of War, Man of Peace (Hardcover)

This is a compliliation of some of the worst writing I have even seen, which seems to be leading nowhere. If there is a theme, which has yet to emerge three-quarters into the book, it is buried in sentences such as: "In one part of Northern Europe, however, little was only briefly large."

Only if that sentence means something to you would I recommend buying it.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars It's been done before by the same author, July 19, 2004

By 

danny boy "dbswongv" (Singapore) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Napoleon: Man of War, Man of Peace (Hardcover)

The author has an earlier book which I have entitled "Napoleon and his Artists" covering most of the same ground.
I did not buy this book for the above reason and a quick browse confirmed that suspicion.
Thus this book rehashes almost the same topics - Napoleon's life, his achievements especially in the artistic sphere and thru Josephine's patronage, his relations with the savants, during and after the Egyptian campaign, specific anecdotes on Vivant Denon, Jean L Gros,and of course Jacques L David. Nothing new.