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Paul Johnson

Napoleon (Penguin Lives) Hardcover – May 13, 2002

by Paul Johnson (Author)

173 ratings

Part of: Penguin Lives (32 books)

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An acclaimed historian turns his sights on Napoleon, casting his towering life in a new light, from his early displays of military genius through his lust for power and his eventual defeat at Waterloo and exile on St. Helena. 30,000 first printing.

Print length

208 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Viking Adult
Publication date

May 13, 2002
Dimensions

5.4 x 0.82 x 7.88 inches
ISBN-10

9780670030781
ISBN-13

978-0670030781
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The career of a different kind of celebrity hound is examined in historian Paul Johnson's Napoleon. Johnson (A History of the American People) contends that Bonaparte sowed the seeds of the devastating warfare and totalitarian regimes of the 20th century. Stressing that the Corsican general was motivated by opportunism alone, Johnson traces his rise to power and expansionist bids, arguing that the most important legacies of his rule were the eclipse of France as the leading European power and the introduction of such enduring institutions as the secret police and government propaganda operations. ( on sale May 13)
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

In this newest addition to the "Penguin Life" series, Johnson (The Birth of the Modern) produces an "unromantic," "skeptical," and "searching" study of a person who exercised power "only for a decade and a half" but whose "impact on the future lasted until nearly the end of the twentieth century." Characterizing Bonaparte primarily as an opportunist "trained by his own ambitions and experiences to take the fullest advantage of the power the Revolution had created," Johnson suggests that, by 1813, the emperor "did not understand that all had changed ... and events were about to deposit him ... on history's smoldering rubbish dump." Why another biography of Napoleon now? Johnson's answer is that the great evils of "Bonapartism" "the deification of force and war, the all-powerful centralized state, the use of cultural propaganda..., the marshaling of entire peoples in the pursuit of personal and ideological power came to hateful maturity only in the twentieth century." Thus, Napoleon's is a grandly cautionary life. Readers might wish to counterbalance Johnson's deliberately sparse outline of Bonaparte's amazing career by examining James M. Thompson's Napoleon Bonaparte: His Rise and Fall. But Johnson's antiromantic treatment brings into sharp focus the ills he identifies with "Bonapartism," and that focus certainly justifies this new look at the much-studied old general. Recommended for larger public libraries. Robert C. Jones, Warrensburg, MO
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Reviewed with Frank McLynn's Napoleon.

Two new books, each one different in scope and audience, profile the French emperor who gave his name to an era.

A prolific and popular historian, Johnson provides an excellent overview. In what amounts to an extended essay, this volume in the Penguin Lives series presents a concise appraisal of Napoleon's career and a precise understanding of his enigmatic character. The author views Napoleon, not as an "idea man" whose ideology was the ladder by which he propelled himself to heights of power, but as an opportunist who took advantage of a series of events and situations he could manipulate into achieving supreme control. From the island of Corsica, which only recently had come under French rule, Napoleon saw France's raw, revolutionary condition as the perfect playing field for an "ambitious, politically conscious, and energetic soldier" such as himself. But, in the long run, he failed as a politician, which eventually caused his failure as a general as well.

If Johnson's book is an outstanding introduction, McLynn's study is for readers wanting a more in-depth analysis. At more than 700 pages, this journey through Napoleon's life, with its emphasis on detail, whether about military maneuvers or Napoleon's quasineuroses, certainly demands an investment in terms of time and undivided attention. Written with great stylistic flourish, McLynn's full embrace of his subject's life, which benefits from exhaustive research resulting in a comprehensive picture of the Napoleonic era, is a rich reading experience.

These two biographies are not mutually exclusive. They can comfortably sit side by side on the shelf, each one filling a different need. Brad Hooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

...a near-perfect model of what a brief book can and should be: crisp, clear and strongly personal. -- Book

About the Author

Paul Johnson’s many books, including A History of Christianity, A History of the Jews, Modern Times, Churchill, and Napoleon: A Penguin Life, have been hailed as masterpieces of historical analysis. He is a regular columnist for Forbes and The Spectator, and his work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and many others publications. He lives in London.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0670030783
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Viking Adult; 1st edition (May 13, 2002)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 208 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780670030781
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0670030781
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 11.2 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.4 x 0.82 x 7.88 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,237,004 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #391 in Napoleonic War History (Books)
- #1,060 in Historical France Biographies
- #1,421 in American Revolution Biographies (Books)

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Beginning with Modern Times (1985), Paul Johnson's books are acknowledged masterpieces of historical analysis. He is a regular columnist for Forbes and The Spectator, and his work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and many other publications.

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Captain D

A Concise & Thoughtful Overview of the Man Who Influenced & Dominated Europe for Twenty Years

Reviewed in the United States on September 12, 2015

Verified Purchase

A very concise and thoughtful overview of the years in which Napoleon dominated Europe in so many ways. I have read a lot previously on this subject, but from mainly a military perspective. This books weaves the military in with the political and personal aspects of Napoleon (and also Josephine of course!) As Johnson summarizes at the end (which I largely agree with), Napoleon was basically an opportunist with an awesome military ability that even the Duke of Wellington stated was the greatest of all time!
But he never had an overarching philosophy that would unite his country and other parts of the Empire in the manner that the Roman Empire did.. In the end his tremendous ego and determination to conquer (in some way) the British Empire thru the Continental System was his downfall. He made great contributions to French society in the way of buildings, monuments, and the Napoleonic Code (For example, the code forbade privileges based on birth, allowed freedom of religion, and specified that government jobs should go to the most qualified), but in the end he ended up a lonely man on a tiny island far from any civilization, his home country and much of Europe thoroughly devastated by 20 years of constant warfare.

13 people found this helpful

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Dave R.

Excellent short biography of Napoleon...

Reviewed in the United States on July 10, 2021

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Compact but insightful volume on Napoleon. Great first book on the topic. Covers the military campaigns, but also the other areas of his life such as his marriages, health, and personality. The author's succinct writing style is perfect for getting across the issues and angles of this enormously complex individual and time period. One finishes the book and immediately wants to learn more details about Napoleon's life and times.

2 people found this helpful

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Steve Brooks

An intro to Napoleon

Reviewed in the United States on August 31, 2013

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If you are looking for an introduction to Napoleon, this book serves nicely. Without much detail, Johnson provides most analysis and interruption. Johnson is able to present a unified Napoleon. Some authors succumb to the temptation of description Napoleon as two people - one responsible for his raise and one for his fail. As other reviews note, Johnson takes a fairly negative view of Napoleon. He didn't change, his circumstances did. He wasn't a gifted ruler and his fall was inevitable. His raise can be attributed to aggressiveness and lucky timing.

The explanation for some of Napeleon's success is technological. He was a master map reader. Napoleon's battle field strategy was predicated on three tactics: surprise, speed of attach, and point of attack from the rear. His aim throughout his career was to move swiftly to a position where he obliged the enemy to fight a major battle, destroy the enemy's forces, and then occupy his capital and dictate peace terms.

Napoleon was also a master propagandist. Napoleon either invented or benefited from the invention of the first modern nation state and the absolute concentration of authority. The army became the state. The modern nation state is capable of total warfare: economic, political, and combat. Napoleon's success was the catalyst that created a rival and ultimately more power nation state, Germany.

Quotes:

He is the grandest possible refutation of those determinists who hold that events are governed by forces, classes, economics, and geography rather than by the powerful wills of men and women.
He needed not a paymaster, like a mercenary, not a disembodied ideal, like a patriot, but a source of power, so that he could capture it and obtain more power.
The object of power, in is view,was not only to crush opposition to his will, but more usually to inspire fear, so that power did not need to be used at all.
The whole Napoleonic empire was an emergency entity, built to blaze but not to last.
A huge unbridgeable chasm yawned between his person and the next man down the chain of command.

4 people found this helpful

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Ellen Hardy McKinnon

Fills in the gaps

Reviewed in the United States on February 27, 2018

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Another fine book by Paul Johnson. He answers many of my questions about Europe and its nature following the fall of the Roman empire. What about the Germanic tribes? What about Prussia? Whatever happened to the French revolution? I probably didn’t pay attention in world history, or maybe they just didn’t teach me anything worth remembering. This book has been an outstanding adjunct to my knowledge and understanding of western Europe after the Middle Ages. No wonder my ancestors fled Germany and England in the 1800s!

7 people found this helpful

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hunt tooley

Book arrived quickly and as described

Reviewed in the United States on September 11, 2021

Verified Purchase

Service was fine. It arrived sooner than I expected. As for the book, it is a short, lively, readable account of Napoleon's life. Great for those who want an intro to Napoleon's life or an alternate view. I assigned it to a college class.

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Top reviews from other countries

Siriam

Concise analysis of an individual who was a genius at military tactics but not political strategy

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 2, 2020

Verified Purchase

I bought this 200 odd page “Lives” book to try and obtain an understanding of the bigger picture in examining Napoleon’s lengthy life and legacy. This well researched and erudite academic analysis by a long standing and renowned historian in Paul Johnson met that requirement. While very obviously written by an Englishman in how he approaches the topic, the book is a fascinating set of chapters on the man’s life and as summarised at the end, his legacy.

Lots of strands that get lost in the much longer history books on Napoleon are much more evident in such compressed books where every word and section has to count. Johnson’s main thesis that Napoleon was a truly great military leader in certain situations (his weakness being he did not understand how to fight defensive battles and wars), plus suffered an inability as an individual to develop and understand the importance of long term political strategy, since France was upsetting the natural order that ruled in Europe, was I found very well argued.

Inevitably the book by its brevity has to go light on certain areas notably internal French politics and the changes (or lack of them) ensuing from the Revolution. Even so the many points and observations made across the life of Napoleon do uncover a lot of fault lines that feed into explaining in part how later events unfolded. These range from Napoleon’s relatively poor Corsican upbringing and being consequently an outsider in France (which had only just taken control from Italy of his birthplace Corsica) to his personality of “walking away” from defeats (Egypt, Spain and Russia) and bearing of grudges, plus exercising too much nepotism in favour of inadequate family members.

His failure over 20 years odd to develop reliable non-military mentors or relationships (French and international) and understand the power of accepting political compromise over military victory and dictating of terms, reveals Napoleon as with many victorious military leaders being unable to easily take counsel, possess a lot of patience or be magnanimous. The unwinding of all he had achieved internationally from 1810 onwards and his treatment at the hands of the French as well as other countries, shows the consequences of such an uncomprising personality. More importantly over that period he did have many opportunities to compromise but passed on them all.

Johnson is big on Popper’s later “law of unintended consequences” flowing from what Napoleon had set in motion by his actions given events later in the 19th and through to the 20th centuries. However for the reasons stated above, it is doubtful Napoleon had any real understanding of what might happen subsequently given his poor appreciation of what was occurring contemporaneously as a result of his actions!

Reader

An excellent, concise biography. Easily read.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 14, 2021

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As usual with Paul Johnson's biographies this is well written and pacey and yet rooted in fact and with sufficient detail to be authentic and interesting. Napoleon Bonaparte was one of the shapers of history and this book covers not only his life, but also his wider effects. The author is not afraid to offer opinions, but always justifies them with evidence. A good read, well worth the time.

michele

Naploleon whole

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 29, 2015

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sensible life of naopleon, from an Englishman's point of view.

Mrs. C. S. Kingsley

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 13, 2015

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A 1.