Kanewai
I grew up with the standard American version of Napoleon: He was a French general who tried to conquer the world. He was probably just trying to compensate for being short. Luckily the English defeated him at Waterloo and saved Western civilization.
To our European friends: No joke, this really is the standard narrative in the U.S.
I was shocked (shocked, I tell you!) to read French authors like Victor Hugo or Alexandre Dumas who had a much more nuanced view of the man. But he's a bad guy, I used to think, A monster!!! You can't be sympathetic to him! But the more I read, the more I learned.
And then I learned Italian, and encountered an entirely new perspective on Napoleon.
How's the book?
You are absolutely correct! I thought it was just me! Thank you!
Where to begin? This book definitely got me interested in the man and I am learning lots, however, the book is a bit dated or clumsy in many respects. There must be another good biography out there but I can't find it. This author has treated Napoleon's Russian, Egyptian, and Iberian peninsular campaigns very briefly, almost casually.
Napoleon was so very many different things that it is hard to know what to say; everything needs to be qualified. He did so many horrific things and also so many magnificent things that it is still difficult for me to grasp him.
What is a challenge for me right now is that I need to read about Napoleon in the context of the French Revolution. That is a necessity and requires a lot of background reading on my part so as to understand what Napoleon was doing and why. Maybe that is one reason I am struggling with the book
I am only two thirds through the book and would not suggest that others read it due to how it is structured. Writing a one volume book on Napoleon is a challenge for anyone but I think it could be done better.
At this time I would give it a 5/10.