Napoleon

I love this book. Vincent Cronin obviously knows his subject thoroughly and has a keen interest in and appreciation of Napoleon. As another reviewer said it is a sympathetic biography which looks for the good in Napoleon's actions, but it does not gloss over the less favourable aspects of his character. The opening chapter is called 'A Happy Childhood' and Cronin manages not only to convey that to the reader, but he also gives a sense of what life was like in Corsica when Napoleon grew up there, down to details such as the food produced and eaten and the routines of everyday life; without these ever being dull. Cronin has written for the intelligent layman and no prior knowledge of Napoleon or The Napoleonic Wars is needed to enjoy this book; it left me with a better understanding not just of Napoleon but of late 18th and early 19th century Europe. I've read a lot of biographies on people from different walks of life; but I have never enjoyed a biography as much as this one. I rarely re-read books but I have read this twice and I imagine I will return to it again some day. If you do read it I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.

Fantastic book from start to finish! You get under the skin of "Nap" and really obtain insight on the events and players surrounding him during the French revolution and emporate. I found my self cheering for the guy and his suprisingly (not always, but often) liberterian ways. Changed my view on this historic figure completely.

There are insights aplenty here. I just read Waterloo by Bernard Cornwell so already had some ideas about Napoleon. But this book was a revelation. It ends up being a lesson on power corrupting but starts with someone fairly simple, who becomes a soldier by chance and who has not much ambition. He gradually discovers what is possible and takes the whole of France along. It is a clear commentary but does rather leave a lot out and gives a slanted view. For example it gives the impression that he was the saviour of Egypt. People there remember a terrible massacre and have a very different view. (I was reading it while in Egypt in 2015) Read Simon Schama, Citizens, for an explanation of the French revolution which put France in such a mess that Napoleon was welcome. Read Waterloo to find out why he in the end failed. Read this book to find out why he tried.

As someone who had never been altogether familiar with the life and times of Napoleon, I found this history to be highly interesting. My American historical education tended to treat European history between 1782-1812 as an ambiguous mish-mash of tensions between the British factions ("war" party vs. "peace" party) and the Continental revolutionary tendencies. Vincent Cronin's Napoleon helped to put a human face to the conflict raging in Europe during this period and helped to make the "Napoleonic Wars" less abstract in how they actually affected the average European. With that said, Napoleon's life really did play out much like a novel, and I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves reading biography.

It was a very personal account of napoleons life in a very favourable light but told in a very readable and interesting way that keeps you hooked. It's more about the man and his personal life than his battles and military tactics, and it's a little one sided so it should be read with something else to have a fuller and broader understanding. Great book by Vincent, highly recommended

This is a good a book to begin your journey to discover, "Napoleon", as there is; factual and accurate but with a narrative that will capture your imagination and make it easier to understand the man and the myth.

I enjoyed reading this book and learning what a great general, administrator, leader of his country and hero was.Napoleon Bonaparte. I thought however the author was far too brief in his explanations in providing background information relating to the important people who were his advisers and opponents and especially his relationship with his own family. Most deserving of greater detail however were the women in his life for example his mother, sisters, wives and mistresses. They needed to be covered in greater detail as I felt they impacted greatly on his ambitions and objectives.

I certainly found this easy to read and informative but the lack of meaningful critique annoyed me. According to the author Napoleon was a great and good man, unselfish in his devotion to France’s and the French. Really? I found the reported speech of our hero contradicted this view. Much of it seemed odd, for example his initial worship of Josephine which to begin with was not reciprocated. I note others, more learned than myself, have considered that he suffered from a bipolar disorder or that he could be deemed to exhibit symptoms of narcissistic personality disorder. How many deaths and disability was he responsible for? How did he persuade so many young men to lay down their lives for him? Why do humans go so readily to war? Having read this book I felt I’d only heard one side of the argument about the virtue or otherwise of this man. .

Cronin is a storyteller. And that is what makes this biography not outstanding. He often treats stories (just so stories, perhaps just anecdotal) as factual but does not give the source of the story. This makes one wonder. For instance, he treats Louis Bonaparte as a sick man with a blood disease without telling us where this tale comes from. He also mentions that the Swiss rebelled against Napolean, which they certainly did, but does not mention that the Swiss were at each other's throat for much of the time since 1291. There are too many similar cases to go into detail of each one but if you read attentively you will soon find them out for yourself. For my taste Cronin uses just too many unsubstantiated rumours as if they were facts but doesn't tell us where he got them from. A good biography should be able to refer all such instances to source material so that the reader can ascertain for him/herself whether to trust the tale or not. After having just finished the excellent biography "Napoleon the Great" by Andrew Roberts (available on Amazon Kindle) and the three volumes of "The Life of Napoleon Bonaparte" by William Milligan Sloane; Cronin's "Napoleon" is a bit of a let-down. When it comes to non-Fiction I like to check, as far as possible, the authors statements and especially his/her assumptions. It's a habit that I would recommend to everyone.

Answer this question to know if you should read this book: "Should history be objective?" Napoleon is a hurricane, a force of nature, intelligent, dramatic, hopeful and sincere. He held firmly to the principles of the French Revolution. He threw kings off their thrones,destroyed the "nobles" who enslaved millions of peasants and established democracy. This just scratches the surface of a truly amazing book on the life of Napoleon. If the criticism of Vincent Cronin is that he is to "pro" Napoleon then he is easily forgiven. Cronin brings us as observers to the massive vortex that is Napoleon and all we can do is hang on to the rail with both hands and hope that WE can remain objective in the face of it.

Hasta ahora, una introspectiva única al "pensar" de Napoleón. También encontramos insights de sus mejores decisiones, dándonos perspectiva acerca del porque era tal personaje.

Im about 1/2 way though the book but I decided to write this review. This book reads not like a history but like an adventure story. The author did a great job at making history interesting to a non-history person. Im loving this book so far, if you want to learn about Napoleons life and why he did some of the things he did, from his perspective, this is a great book. Also, another reason I like this book is it allows the reader to view Napoleon's actions as a matter of circumstance and the environment he was born and grown in. Totally awesome read so far.

Well written, and was useful for my report in my history class.