Customer Reviews

Napoleon (Profiles in Power)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is my first book on Napoleon, though not my first book on French history. Ellis' book has many good insights and seems to me well-written. He arranged his book according to themes, rather than on a timeline. This is difficult, however, for the beginner, as a basic knowledge of Napoleonic history is assumed. At the end of his book, Ellis recommends Felix Markham's "Napoleon" as a good introductory work, and I will take his advice, then perhaps reread Ellis, as I think it deserves to be read with the details of Napleon's history already in the readers mind.

This slender tome is an elegant overview of Napoleon's political and cultural impact on 19th Century Europe. It is not a political or cultural biography of Napoleon, but instead, a collection of essays which addresses Napoleon's roles as a soldier, statesman and patron of the arts during the first French Republic and first French Empire (1792-1815). Ellis demonstrates Napoleon's acquisition and retention of power during the first half of the book. He closes with several fine essays which show how Napoleon's power was depicted artistically and what - if any - was Napoleon's legacy to France and to Europe. This is unquestionably a book of interest to those familiar with Napoleon's career, early 19th Century European history, or both.