Napoleon: The Man Behind the Myth

This book is a MUST for anyone interested in the enigmatic historical character of Napoleon, a man who was instrumental in creating present-day Europe.Like his previous books on the time of Napoleon, the expedition to Russia and the aftermath of the Vienna Congress, Zamoyski produced once more a very readable book.For the first time I got a full understanding of the person Bonaparte in his own time, the turbulant aftermath of the French revolution.The book also makes it quite clear that Napoleon when he was First Consul had enormous energy and really took excellent measures to create what we would call a modern state based on the principles of the revolution.His code Napoleon created a constitution which is still the core of many constitutions in the Western World.Zamoyski also makes quite clear that the main hindrance to development in Europe at that time was the economic trade power of Great Britain.Right from the beginning it is obvious that the author has a great respect and admiration for Napoleon, but he is certainly not defending the obvious mistakes and failings of the Emperor.A weak point in his book is his assertion that Napoleon lacked any empathy. He uses madame De Staël as his witness in this. Incorrectly in my opinion. He detested her.A drawback in the Kindle edition of this book is that the notes cannot be reached by clicking on the number indicatin a note. The reader has to go to the back of the book to find each note separately.

The book lives up to the title. Apart from interesting material about early life (seldom written about), the brilliance and errors of the man are well delineated. A natural leader of men, he was as capable of mistakes as many and seems to have been influenced by the adulation and early successes to lose sight of his limitations. A must read for all interested in the era.

This is an outstanding biography, balanced in approach, avoiding the usual heroic or hagiographic portrait of a man of historic achievements and pervasive insecurities, mixed in with hubris and delusion. Exceptionally well written and consistently interesting.

Interesting book

Really excellent review of the person of Napoleon Bonaparte. Unlike other biographies Adam Zamoyski maintains the focus on personality and character, and that sets it apart from other books of its kind. Some background knowledge about the times, the French Revolution and the napoleonic wars is assumed. I would have liked to see more illustrations. The ones that are there are of high quality. Great book and a very worthwhile addition to your view of Napoleon’s life.

This is a wonderful book, utterly absorbing and throwing light on many aspects of life at that time. Surprisingly, despite lots of truly awful aspects of Napoleon’s character, one ends up with sympathy for the man - at least I did. Unlike so many megalomaniac tyrants both before and after his time, he really tried to do good, in his case for France. He wasn’t driven by ideology. He didn’t kill or torture his rivals for power, or at least not often and never with the lust for vengeance of a Hitler or a Stalin. And as the author remarks, his vaulting ambition was no worse than that of many who were famous but less successful. Zamoyski manages to link his change of fortune and deteriorating judgement to a diminution in his energy and expose some very human reasons for it. It is an excellent study of a real genius - however unpleasnt it must have been to have to deal with him.

I have read tons of books about Napoleon, and I know Zamoyski's books very well too. I consider "1812" the best book written on Napoleon or his era and even one of the best historical accounts written about anything anywhere, so I do hold Zamoyski in a very high esteem. But I don't know man, this book puzzles me. It starts out great, has a really nice pace to it, its very detailed, and Zamoyski is an excellent writer, but somewhere after the first third or so it kind of loses momentum, and the second half was kind of a drag for me. It was as the writer himself lost interest, or had a really strict deadline, or wanted to get into a very strict page limitation. I just need to compare it to Andrew Roberts' book because they came out closely, they are very similar and also the two authors make a living about bashing each other on auditoriums (and, thankfully, Youtube). And, although I think Zamoyski is a far better writer, I just see no reason whatsoever to pick up this book and not Andrew Roberts' version. It is much longer and much detailed, and maybe a bit less written, just overall more balanced. I read Roberts' version just recently, and my main idea was to buy this to see Napoleon from a different perspective. Roberts is very famously a Napoleon lover and Zamoyski really does not like the man, so I thought the two books will give me a great, objective all around idea about the man. But it really did not. Zamosykis critisism of Napoleon is not really in this book at all, so this was just a bit rushed and not very interesting account on the same events I just read about. I do still love Zamoyski, but pick up 1812 instead.

I've read much on and around Napoleon and that era, but some events have never really been explained, such as why and how come Napoleon 'suddenly' appeared to make his coup d'etat? Nothing happens 'suddenly' in history. Now, thanks to Adam Zamoyski's painstaking research a logical progression is laid out, not just in connection with this poser, but repeatedly.I am deeply grateful.Huge fan of Rites of Peace as well. Both essential reading. And he writes so well. Reading his work is a privilege.

As the titles promises, you get to see much more than just the myth and facts that everyone knows. You get to know his personality, his thinking, his motivation and his limitations as a human. The book covers his whole life span, from an impoverished provincial backwater, to the top of the world an back. An interesting story about the interaction of a man and power, and hubris. The must-read work on this historic figure.