Written in a clear and insightful style, Asprey has mined sharp insights, shrewd observations, and new understanding of one of history's greatest (and most complex) leaders, from a gold mine thought long paid out. I agree with another reviewer here, take this one plus the Vincent Cronin and you have a pretty darn good feel for Napoleon and his times.įew historians could write this most impressive and thoroughly researched work about Napoleon Bonaparte. Asprey gives two very full action-packed volumes for a terrific overview. He did not disappoint - this is a truly great work, sure there are probably some areas here and there one might like to know about, one reviewer here called his treatment 'superficial,' but again, let's be fair, Napoloeon's life is vast, Mr.

Massey's Pulitzer-winning Peter the Great). I was drawn to this biography of Napoleon because I had previously read the author's Frederick the Great biography, which I counted as the second-best biography I've ever read (after Robert K. As the author makes so clear, much of what is commonly known about Napoleon is taken out of context, 'history written by the victors' as it were - of course the English demonize Napoleon, and he hated them just the same, but in the book you find that it was not Napoleon who started one war after another in Europe but in fact it was usually the English as the 'bad guy,' bankrolling and instigating 7, yes SEVEN, coalitions against Napoleon, all but the last of which they lost (and consequently lost so much of Europe). All this and more is nicely characterized in Mr.

He didn't simply 'grab for power' as many would have you believe, it was the French Revolution and because of his immense popularity throughout France he was -invited- to be Consul in an effort to end the chaos and Terrors. Napoleon on the other hand left numerous infrastructural improvements, the 'Code Napoleon' judicial system largely still in use not just in France but in dozens of countries worldwide, the list goes on.

That comparison is simply ridiculous - no one talks today of 'Hitler-Kulture,' he left no legacy but murder and madness. Alistair Horne's terribly biased 'How Far From Austerlitz').

I had big hopes with a number of 'high profile' works in the past few years, but I found so many of them were written by English authors who were none too objective and went so far as to compare Napoleon to Hitler (e.g. As an avid history buff I've searched over the years for a really good modern, readable and fair biography of Napoleon.

Rise of napoleon