Napoleón
Austerlitz, Borodino, Waterloo: his battles are among the greatest in history, but Napoleon Bonaparte was far more than a military genius and astute leader of men. Like George Washington and his own hero Julius Caesar, he was one of the greatest soldier-statesmen of all times. Andrew Roberts's Napoleon is the first one-volume biography to take advantage of the recent publication of Napoleon's thirty-three thousand letters, which radically transform our understanding of his character and motivation. At last we see him as he was: protean multitasker, decisive, surprisingly willing to forgive his enemies and his errant wife Josephine. Like Churchill, he understood the strategic importance of telling his own story, and his memoirs, dictated from exile on St. Helena, became the single bestselling book of the nineteenth century. An award-winning historian, Roberts traveled to fifty-three of Napoleon's sixty battle sites, discovered crucial new documents in archives, and even made the long trip by boat to St. Helena. He is as acute in his understanding of politics as he is of military history. Here at last is a biography worthy of its subject: magisterial, insightful, beautifully written, by one of our foremost historians. - "... The first single-volume, cradle-to-grave biography to take advantage of the recent publication of Napoleon's thirty-three thousand letters, which radically transform our understanding of his character and motivation"--Jacket.
Stats for nerds
3recommend
11mentions
11people
2014–2025years
27% recommend64% neutral9% critical
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- Napoleon by Andrew Roberts. It's one of those rare works of history that is both highly informative and a real pleasure to read.
It helps that Napoleon lived one of the most extraordinary lives in human history.
Key takeaway, in the saucy words of the great man himself: "Fortune is a woman. The more she does for me, the more I will require of her."
- Napoleon A Life
by Andrew Roberts read by John Lee
Worth the time to listen to the 32+ hours.
- "The Autobiography of Malcom X"
What a crazy life he led.
"Napoleon: A Life" - Andrew Roberts
A gigantic book that still felt rushed because of how much he did during his life.
"Babylon: Mesopotamia and the Birth of Civilization" Kriwaczek, Paul
Interesting introduction but I was hoping for more of a focus on a specific period of time. Instead if covers several thousand years of history.
"Buddhism Without Belief" - Stephen Bachelor
Meh.
"The Book of Magic: From Antiquity to the Enlightenment" - Copenhaver, Brian
"The Philosophy Book" - Will Buckingham
Great into to the history of Philosophy
"The Vindication of Man" by John C Wright
Great, great series.
- > Napoleon: A Life by Andrew Roberts
Napoleon kill the first French republic and actually reduce the size of territory control by France. Napoleon is IMO one of the most overrated historical figure.
- When Ridley Scott's Napoleon came out, I picked up Napoleon: A Life by Andrew Roberts. Turns out Napoleon kept a copy of Ossian on him at all times during his war campaigns. Going deeper into the rabbit hole, I bought a copy of Ossian.
My pet theory is that he cribbed a lot of inspiration from Ossian for his famous harangues to his army before pivotal moments in battle.
"Farewell, thou bravest of men! Thou conqueror in the field! But the field shall see thee no more; nor the dark wood be lightened with the splendor of thy steel. Thou hast left no son. But the song shall preserve thy name. Future times shall hear of thee; they shall hear of the fallen Morar."
As Will Ferrell said, it gets the people going.
- Napoleon: A Life by Andrew Roberts
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