Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Best Single Volume about Napoleon's Life, August 8, 2002
Simply put, Vincent Cronin's Napoleon is the best biography of Napoleon I have ever read. As a student of Napoleonic history, I have read many biographies of the great man, but none has struck home like this one. Cronin presents Napoleon as the man he was, not the myth, not the legend, not the "Anti-Christ." Napoleon's fascinating life from birth to death reads like a novel. It is hard to put down.
Unlike other authors, Cronin does not appear to take sides. He presents Napoleon's accomplishments as well as his faults. If you were to chose one biography of Napoleon, this should be the one!
|
|
|
19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Sympathetic psychological portrait, October 31, 2004
Books about Napoleon seem to fall in two categories : the hate-him biographers, like Paul Johnson, who depict him as a demon who can do no good, or the admirers, like all French authors on Napoleon I have seen, who can say no bad about him.
Cronin's book is also very kind to Napoleon : for instance when he is crowned emperor of France, we are told that Napoleon did not really seek this title, but that it was his friends who thought it would be a splendid idea. I cannot imagine that someone as ambitious as Napoleon would just sit back and wait for his friends to have such a good idea. Furthermore we are told Napoleon's wars were defensive only. Whilst I have sympathy for Cronins argument that all Europe's old regime monarchs ganged up against France, I still think Napoleon was a person who tended to settle differences on the battlefield rather than at the negotiating table.
Still, as long as one bears this bias in mind, this is a highly enjoyable psychological portrait because it succeeds very well in showing how Napoleon changed during his life. For instance, the description of his relationship with his wife Josephine is an eye-opener because it shows Napoleon in such a different light from his battlefield image : he stayed with her for a long time despite knowing she betrayed him repeatedly.
There is relatively little in this book about specific battles, except to demonstrate how creative Napoleon was in military strategy and tactics (for instance you may read more in this book about Napoleon's favourite foods or his daytime routines). The battle at Waterloo merits only 3 pages (Napoleon was less than inspired that day).
This book is not for those interested in military history, but I recommend it for those who want to understand a man who managed to terrorise the established monarchs, czars and emperors of Europe for many years and who left a more lasting legacy than his victors : from his Code Civil, which is still the basis to civil law in a number of European countries, to the tree-lined French routes nationales ( so his troups could march in the shadow). In particular I would recommend it to those who have purchased Paul Johnson's book about Napoleon.
|
|
|
19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"What a great novel my life is!", February 9, 2001
Napoleon is reported to have said this, and it is true. In this magnificent biography of the Corsican, Cronin has written the life of Napoleon from the inside: who the man really was. It is not only circunscribed to battles and politics, but especially the intimate life and anecdotes of Napoleon. It changed my vision about this man. The information and research are exhaustive, yet the book reads like a novel. That is the true art of biography. Napoleon has been one of the most controversial characters in History, and deservedly so. Cronin does not take sides, but he clearly rejects the portrait of Napoleon as an overambitious monster, always trying to get more and more territories for France. Undoubtedly, ambition was the driving force for this man, but we have to consider that he was constantly harassed by other powers who feared that his influence would destroy the old European regimes. Undoubtedly, his coronation as Emperor was a big disappointment to all those who believed he would be the leader of Republicanism. Beethoven, for instance, dedicated his Third Symphony to him, but after the coronation he erased the dedicatory, writing instead: "To the memory of a great man". However, we have to judge historical figures by the standards of their times, not ours. All in all, this is probably the best biography of Napoleon. At least it is the best among the three or four I have read. It is a shame that it is out of print.
|
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
by Christopher Hibbert
by Adrian Goldsworthy
by Steven Englund
by Robert Asprey
