Napoleon, David A. Bell
Napoleon, David A. Bell
5 Rating(s)
List: $12.99 | Sale: $9.10
Club: $6.49

Napoleon
A Concise Biography

Author: David A. Bell

Narrator: Paul Heitsch

Unabridged: 4 hr 30 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 07/31/2018


Synopsis

This book provides a concise, accurate, and lively portrait of Napoleon Bonaparte's character and career, situating him firmly in historical context.

David Bell emphasizes the astonishing sense of human possibility—for both good and ill—that Napoleon represented. By his late twenties, Napoleon was already one of the greatest generals in European history. At thirty, he had become absolute master of Europe's most powerful country. In his early forties, he ruled a European empire more powerful than any since Rome, fighting wars that changed the shape of the continent and brought death to millions. Then everything collapsed, leading him to spend his last years in miserable exile in the South Atlantic.

Bell emphasizes the importance of the French Revolution in understanding Napoleon's career. The revolution made possible the unprecedented concentration of political authority that Napoleon accrued, and his success in mobilizing human and material resources. Without the political changes brought about by the revolution, Napoleon could not have fought his wars. Without the wars, he could not have seized and held onto power. Though his virtual dictatorship betrayed the ideals of liberty and equality, his life and career were revolutionary.

About David A. Bell

David A. Bell is the Sidney and Ruth Lapidus Professor in the Department of History at Princeton. Born in New York and educated at Harvard, Princeton, and the École Normale Superieure, he previously taught at Yale and Johns Hopkins, where he also served as dean of faculty in the School of Arts and Sciences. He is the author of three prize-winning books, including The First Total War.


Reviews

Brilliant in its conciseness, David A Bell manages to take us through the French Revolution and all of Napoleon’s reign in just 113pp! However, don’t be fooled by the extent or the word ‘concise’. There is a lot of information packed in here. And Bell offers a wonderfully balanced and unbiased insig......more

Goodreads review by Mark

The life of Napoleon Bonaparte, as David A. Bell notes in this book, is one of the best documented in history. The emperor managed his vast domain by pen, which required him to write tens of thousands of letters, orders, and dispatches over the course of its existence. While in exile he dictated his......more

Goodreads review by Doug

A great, short biography of Napoleon. If you've ever been interested in reading a biography of Napoleon, but you don't want to wade through the large, sometimes multi-volume, 1000-page biographies, this is the best option. (Yes, there is actually a biography of Napoleon that is in two volumes, with e......more

Goodreads review by Mel

Five things I hate about you Napoleon: - You restored slavery in the Caribbean - In your famous Napoleon Code, you declared that married women should seek out their husband's approval before they wrote a novel. - You preached democracy and revolution but as soon as you could do so, you put your brothe......more

Goodreads review by Lois

This was a fast easy listen. The biographer was too in awe of Napoleon for my tastes. Also this primarily focused on military actions. That's inevitable with Napoleon but there was nothing of the personal at all......more