Napoleon

This sophisticated and masterful biography, written by a respected French history scholar who has taught courses on Napoleon at the University of Paris, brings new and remarkable analysis to the study of modern history's most famous general and statesman. Since boyhood, Steven Englund has been fascinated by the unique force, personality, and political significance of Napoleon Bonaparte, who, in only a decade and a half, changed the face of Europe forever. In Napoleon: A Political Life, Englund harnesses his early passion and intellectual expertise to create a rich and full interpretation of a brilliant but flawed leader. Napoleon believed that war was a means to an end, not the end itself. With this in mind, Steven Englund focuses on the political, rather than the military or personal, aspects of Napoleon's notorious and celebrated life. Doing so permits him to arrive at some original conclusions. For example, where most biographers see this subject as a Corsican patriot who at first detested France, Englund sees a young officer deeply committed to a political event, idea, and opportunity (the French Revolution) -- not to any specific nationality. Indeed, Englund dissects carefully the political use Napoleon made, both as First Consul and as Emperor of the French, of patriotism, or "nation-talk." As Englund charts Napoleon's dramatic rise and fall -- from his Corsican boyhood, his French education, his astonishing military victories and no less astonishing acts of reform as First Consul (1799-1804) to his controversial record as Emperor and, finally, to his exile and death -- he is at particular pains to explore the unprecedented power Napoleon maintained over the popular imagination. Alone among recent biographers, Englund includes a chapter that analyzes the Napoleonic legend over the course of the past two centuries, down to the present-day French Republic, which has its own profound ambivalences toward this man whom it is afraid to recognize yet cannot avoid. Napoleon: A Political Life presents new consideration of Napoleon's adolescent and adult writings, as well as a convincing argument against the recent theory that the Emperor was poisoned at St. Helena. The book also offers an explanation of Napoleon's role as father of the "modern" in politics. What finally emerges from these pages is a vivid and sympathetic portrait that combines youthful enthusiasm and mature scholarly reflection. The result is already regarded by experts as the Napoleonic bicentennial's first major interpretation of this perennial subject.

Steven Englund earned his Ph.D. at Princeton University. He has taught courses on French history and on Napoleon at UCLA, the University of Paris-VIII (Saint-Denis), and Paris's prestigious School of Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences. He is the author of The Inquisition in Hollywood (with Larry Ceplair), Man Slaughter: A True Story of Love, Death and Justice in America, and Grace of Monaco. He lives in Paris.

Contents Frisson Book I: Allons enfants de la Patrie I. Napoleone di Buonaparte Unsceptered Isle: Corsica in the Eighteenth Century The Buonapartes of Ajaccio Napoleon's Childhood II. The Making of the Patriot To France (Autun and Brienne) Gentleman and Officer Family Enfant de la Patrie (Psychology) Enfant de la Patrie (Ideas) Corsican Junkets III. The Unmaking of the Patriot Annuit Coeptis: The French Revolution and the Emergencen of "the Political" Divergences: Corsica and Napoleon in the Revolution Styles of Patriotism: Paoli versus the Bonapartes Interlude: Writer in the Making? Napoleon in France (May-October 1792) Forced Departure (1793) Beyond Patriotism IV. Robespierre on Horseback "The Supper at Beaucaire" Recognition The Dinner at Ancona The Spinner's Plans Vendémiaire, Year IV Book II: Le jour de gloire est arrivé V. Love and War Clisson in Love A Rose by Any Other Name The Improviser of Victory: The First Italian Campaign (1796-1797) "Three to One": The "Moral" Elements of Victory Lodi VI. Apprenticeship in Statecraft: Italy and Egypt "Cister" Republics Death in Venice (of a Jacobin Reputation) France Seen from the Army of Italy Paris Interlude A Passage to India: Egypt, 1798-1799, the Military Operation Sultan El-Kebir -- Governing Egypt Egypt: A Balance Sheet VII. Power (I): Taking It (Brumaire) "Politics" and "the Political" "The National Mess": The State of France, 1798-1799 The Return of the Prodigy Brumaire: An Actor's Nightmare VIII. Power (II): Using It (The Consulate) The Pastiche of the Year VIII War in Italy (Again): The Second Italian Campaign, 1800 The Blocks of Granite: Le Politique Concordat Economy, State, and Society: Bourgeois Consolidation? The Politics of Depoliticization... ...and the "National" Fix Napoleon and the Bonapartes Book III: Contre nous, de la tyrannie IX. Power (III): Naming It (From Citizen Consul to Emperor of the French) Parallel Lives, Parallel Plots (1800-1802) Consul for Life (1802-1804) The War of Dirty Tricks Getting Worse: The Coming of the Empire Stupete Gentes!: The Republican Emperor Coronation Legitimacy: The Never-Ending Quest X. La Guerre -- Encore (et pour toujours) The Failure of the Peace Forming the Third Coalition The Great Campaign (1805) From Grande Nation to Grand Empire The Fourth Coalition (1806-1807): The Prussian and the Russian Campaigns Blockade (I) XI. The Empire -- and Its Fissures (1807-1810) Imperator and Imperium The Janus Face of the Grand Empire Spain The War of the Fifth Coalition: 1809 The Pope and the Emperor Book IV: L'Etendard sanglant est levé XII. The Great Unraveling (1810-1812) Highwater: Divorce, Remarriage, Heir The Crisis of 1810-1811 The Blockade (II) The Napoleonic Dream: Political Economy as National Economics 1812 Overture The Flight Forward The Leader and His Men His Master's Voice XIII. The Collapse (1812-1814) Malet Pius and Impious (The Pope and the Emperor Again) 1813: The Crusade of the Sovereigns The National Revival Manqué The Lion in Winter: The Champagne Campaign (1814) Abdication? Abjection XIV. Nation-Talk: The Liberal Empire "Vesuvius Next Door to Naples": Napoleon on Elba (May 1814-March 1815) The Kingdom of the Weather Vane: Restoration France The Eagle Has Landed The Hundred Days (March 20-June 29) Sub specie aeternitatis... The Jacobin Specter The Nation-Talker: Napoleon Chameleon Waterloo: Vae Victis Abjection (II), Abdication (II) XV. Shadows: "The Liberal Empire" The New "Saint" Memoirs Sickness unto Death The Napoleonic Tradition(s) Introduction (Misplaced) Notes Bibliographical Comments Acknowledgments Index Map on page Art following page