Happy Thursday, readers and writers! My apologies for the long absence. The good news is that I’m being kept busy with plenty of work; the bad news is that I’m being kept busy with plenty of work. Fortunately, I’ve still been able to set aside some time for reading, and today I have a new book to review for you: Adam Brown’s Napoleon Bonaparte: The Biography of a Leader Who Changed the History of France (Including the French Revolution).
As the title suggests, Napoleon Bonaparte details the life and death of the French emperor and military savant Napoleon Bonaparte. Brown follows Napoleon from his early years in Corsica and rise through the ranks of the French military to his exile and death. In his in-depth examination, Brown explores Napoleon’s less-than-glamorous upbringing and early failures as well as his shining victories and infamous decline. No stone is left unturned, no secret kept buried.
Image retrieved from Amazon
Napoleon Bonaparte provides a thorough, comprehensive account of a political figure who has been both revered and despised. As a history fanatic, I was excited to start this book and learn more about Napoleon. In that respect, this book did not disappoint. Like most people, I knew very little about Napoleon’s personal life before Brown’s work. I only had a rough idea about his contributions to the French Revolution and his controversial time as the Emperor of France. This book taught me about Napoleon’s childhood, his relationship with his parents, his difficulties as a poor academic at a nobleman’s military school, and how he came to know his first wife, Josephine. I was fascinated, to say the least.
I especially enjoyed how Brown covered Napoleon’s death. There is much debate over this event, mostly whether Napoleon was poisoned. In most history books, readers only get one perspective on the matter. In Napoleon Bonaparte, Brown presents all the possible theories. He explores each argument, the good points and the flaws, and states the most logical possibility while allowing readers to come to their own conclusions.
For the majority of the book, Brown’s writing style helped to keep my attention and made the book go by fairly quickly for a purely historical/biographical tome. He utilizes an informal, conversational tone rather than the dry, formal tone which is common to academic and historical pieces. It felt as though I were talking to one of my favorite history teachers about one of their favorite time periods. Brown is clearly excited about the subject of Napoleon, his effects on the world, and the French Revolution, and this excitement translates into an energetic read.
However, this energy did sometimes lead to rambling, particularly in the accounts of the parts of the French Revolution in which Napoleon was not directly involved. Mind you, everything which Brown covers in the book is important for understanding how Napoleon rose to the top and why he was motivated to do so. Nevertheless, I felt that too much time was spent on such things as encounters between the First Coalition and the French Republic before Napoleon enters the scene. In about the first quarter of the book, parts of the French Revolution without Napoleon take up so much space that I sometimes forgot that I was reading a book about Napoleon specifically rather than the history of the French Revolution overall.
I was also rather disappointed that the author did not provide a bibliography of his resources at the end of the book. I’m a stickler for facts and double-checking sources, not to mention I just have a never-ending thirst for knowledge. That’s why, when I read historical books, I love being able to follow the information back to the original source if I can. Of course, some sources the ordinary reader simply has no access to, such as primary sources like letters and even some secondary sources like older books. Regardless, I would still like to know that I could check into the source if I wanted to.
All in all, Napoleon Bonaparte by Adam Brown is a must-read for history lovers, especially if you’re fond of French history, historical leaders, and/or the French Revolution. While I wish that the book had listed its sources and been more focused, it is an interesting read and taught me a lot.
You can buy Napoleon Bonaparte by Adam Brown as an eBook or in paperback on Amazon.
Do you know of a book I should read? E-mail me at thewritersscrapbin@gmail.com and let me know!
Designed by Stephanie Hoogstad circa 2011