Recommended by: WiseSuit Staff 

"What a great novel my life is," Napoleon is reported to have said. Perhaps it is true for one reader said this:

"Vincent Cronin's Napoleon is the best biography of Napoleon I have ever read. As a student of Napoleonic history, I have read many biographies of the great man, but none has struck home like this one. Cronin presents Napoleon as the man he was, not the myth, not the legend, not the "Anti-Christ." Napoleon's fascinating life from birth to death reads like a novel. It is hard to put down."

Books about Napoleon seem to fall in two categories: the hate-him biographers or the admirers. You will find both fans as well as critics of this book who don't appreciate the positive spin on Napoleon.

It is said that Cronin's book is very kind to Napoleon, claiming that Napoleon did not seek the title of Emperor, but that it was his friends who thought it would be a splendid idea. Cronin also tells us that Napoleon's wars were defensive only. Still, one may surmise that Napoleon was a person who tended to settle differences on the battlefield rather than at the negotiating table.

As Cronin says at the outset, he wants to give us Napoleon the man more than the general or emperor. The battle at Waterloo only takes up 3 pages of the book. But he does add cursory details about battles when speaking of other things. For example, about the poem, Jerusalem Delivered, he writes,:

"Corsican rebels sang selections from this poem when they were fighting the Genoese and the French."

This book is not for those interested in military history, but more for those who want to understand a man who managed to terrorize the established monarchs, czars and emperors of Europe for many years and who left a lasting legacy. For example, the Napoleonic Code is still the basis to civil law in a number of European countries.  And the tree-lined French routes so admired today were created so his troops could march in the shade.

One reader said, "This is a highly enjoyable psychological portrait because it succeeds very well in showing how Napoleon changed during his life. For instance, the description of his relationship with his wife Josephine is an eye-opener because it shows Napoleon in such a different light from his battlefield image: he stayed with her for a long time despite knowing she betrayed him repeatedly. "

About the Author:

Vincent Cronin (born May 24, 1924 in Tredegar, Wales) is a British historical, cultural, and biographical writer whose works have been widely translated into European languages. He is known for his biographies of Louis XIV, Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, Catherine the Great, and Napoleon, as well as for his books on the Renaissance.

In addition to being a recipient of a W.H. Heinemann Award (1955) and a Rockefeller Foundation Award (1958), Cronin is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. His father is the Scottish novelist, A. J. Cronin.

Categories:  Leadership ,  Biography