Napoleon

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Thousands of biographies have been written about Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821). Perhaps the most controversial figure in European history, the self-crowned French emperor has been portrayed as both a cerebral mystic and a raving megalomaniac; both a military genius and a social misfit. Historian Frank McLynn, a winner of the prestigious Cheltenham Prize for Literature, has sculpted a narrative of Napoleon’s life that does justice to the complexities and contradictions of this contentious titan.

Publishers Weekly

After visiting Corsica, Rousseau declared, "I have a presentiment that one day this small island will astonish Europe." Corsica did. Born there in 1769, Napoleon Bonaparte would convulse the Continent, precipitating thousands of books about him since. This latest, by British historian and Strathclyde University (U.K.) literature professor McLynn (Villa and Zapata; The Jacobites), is a crowded and persuasive one-volume life. McLynn's study but for his addictions to clich and to repetition, and his labored leaning on both Freud and Jung is one the best of the new breed (since the 1978 discovery of Bonaparte's arsenic poisoning made earlier volumes obsolete). No hagiographer, McLynn is hard on Napoleon both as general and as statesman, and faults his failures to rein in his openly "venal" marshals, treacherous administrative elite and astonishingly rapacious siblings. Indifferent to people except as he needed their loyalty, this Napoleon's embodies ambitions not tempered by any idealism, and McLynn dismisses "credulous" previous biographers for seeing anything in him beyond a familiar French grasping for "grandeur" and "glory," apparent on a lesser level from Louis XIV to de Gaulle. To McLynn the difference is that Napoleon's dreams were truly Alexandrine that "His genius was of a kind that needed constant warfare to fuel it and... that all the hopes vested in him were illusory." While deftly exposing the material realities underlying the Napoleonic wars, McLynn also graphically describes the battles, suggesting that few (Austerlitz is an exception) demonstrate any authentic military brilliance. He is even more explicit about the general's tumultuous domestic and sexual life, in which Napoleon allegedly found little but masochistic satisfaction. "The true representative of the nation," Napoleon declared desperately in 1814, as his empire was collapsing around him, "is myself. France has more need of me than I have need of France." Such is still the case, McLynn claims, as France continues to cultivate his myth. Although McLynn's is a well-researched, convincing portrait, aficionados will find it not quite up to the standard of Alan Schom's 1997 Napoleon Bonaparte, which is both better written and more psychologically astute. 16 pages of b&w illustrations. (May) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

Numerous biographies of Napoleon are available, but this monumental work, first published in the United Kingdom in 1997, is clearly one of the most pleasurable to read. Using an interesting mixture of narrative and analysis, McLynn (Stanley: The Making of an African Explorer, 1841-1877) explores aspects of Napoleon's life often ignored by other authors. For example, he discusses the influence of the Corsican independence movement and the failures of Napoleon's father as the major influences they were. All of the personalities surrounding Napoleon, including both of his wives and his large family, are thoroughly analyzed in conjunction with the events of his fantastic career. The author is as nearly objective in his characterizations as one can be, holding nothing back as he probes Napoleon's entourage more deeply than did Alan Schom in Napoleon. What results is a less psychopathic, more human view of this much mythologized European. Strongly recommended for all collections. David Lee Poremba, Detroit P.L., MI Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Booknews

Rather than attempt a definitive biography of the 19th-century French leader, prolific biographer McLynn (literature, Strathclyde U.) synthesizes the most reliable knowledge. He figures only the specialist is interested in the many and often contradictory sources for asserting a particular event, and so substitutes detailed notes with listings of indicative literature. The 1997 edition seem to have been published in Britain by Jonathan Cape Limited. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Kirkus Reviews

A rich portrait, packed with anecdotes and historical data, of the world-shaping general and dictator. Veteran biographer McLynn (Villa and Zapata, 2001, etc.) invokes "the mystical powers of quaternity" to explain why Napoleon Bonaparte, born on the island of Corsica, exiled to the island of Elba, exiled again to the island of St. Helena, was fated to have a fourth island-England-figure in his stars. Set this odd mysticism aside, and never mind that the shelves devoted to Napoleon are already sagging: McLynn has done his homework and turned in a refreshingly useful biography that shows the author to be a capable student of tactics, strategy, and politics as well as human character. We learn much here that has not been widely reported elsewhere, including some titillating details on the emperor's sex life (his wife Josephine complained "that her husband made love too fast and suffered from ejaculatio praecox") and on his infamous temper (he once kicked a minister in the genitals "for presenting an unpalatable set of statistics" and apparently thought nothing of slapping his servants in the face when they displeased him). Despite these quirks and a raft of other character flaws, McLynn notes, Napoleon accomplished much. He planted the French tricolor over most of continental Europe, albeit at a terrific cost; he gave the English and Russian empires a good run for their money; and despite his disdain for the people, he advanced the spread of democracy far and wide. McLynn offers a curious take on Napoleon's ultimate downfall, suggesting that his empire collapsed "because he was not ruthless enough" and allowed the intriguing, feckless ingrates surrounding him to have their way. The authoralso weighs in on the age-old question of how Napoleon died, offering a cogent argument that makes yet another good reason to read this account. A sturdy addition to an overstuffed literature, and just the thing for military-history buffs. First printing of 30,000