While this is by no means a hagiography, one comes away with an enormously positive view of Napoleon at the end, or at least, I did. Painting of Napoleon Bonaparte, 1798 when he was First Counsel of France by Andrea Appiani (1754-1817). Not only did he review all the recently released Napoleon correspondence, but he consulted eighty archives in sixteen countries, and visited most of the battlefields on which Napoleon fought, so as to get a better sense of his strategies and tactics.
In this book of almost one thousand pages, Roberts tries to set the record straight, and in my opinion, does an outstanding job. In addition, many of Napoleon’s letters were only recently published, and they, as the author avers, “radically transform our understanding of his character and motivation.” (Since 2004, the Foundation Napoleon in Paris has been publishing every one of the more than 33,000 (!!) letters that Napoleon signed.) Many of the previous biographies about Napoleon were written either by French authors who wished to ingratiate themselves with the restored Bourbon monarchy and so were unfailingly critical (even when the authors’ own private papers said otherwise), or by English authors who had a stake in portraying their enemy as negatively as possible.
This magnificent biography by Roberts helps to dispel the myths and misinformation, and to edify readers about Napoleon’s brilliance, achievements, and innovations. Most people have no impression of Napoleon other than one of his being short, pompous, exiled, and apt to keep one hand inside his coat.
0 kommentar(er)
