A brilliant biography which will surely become a classic life of Napoleon. Lawrence James, The Times Napoleon Bonapartes character and achievements have always divided critics and commentators. In this compelling new biography Frank McLynn draws on the most recent scholarship and throws a brilliant light on this most paradoxical of men as military leader, lover and emperor. Tracing Napoleons extraordinary career, McLynn examines the Promethean legend from the Corsican roots, through the years of the French Revolution and the military triumphs, to the coronation in 1804 and ultimate defeat and imprisonment. Napoleon the man emerges as an even more fascinating character than previously imagined, and McLynn brilliantly reveals the extent ro which he was both existential hero and plaything of Fate; mathematician and mystic; intellectual giant and moral pygmy; Great Man and deeply Aawed human being.
A BIOGR APHY • 'A brilliant biography which will surely become a classic life of Napoleon.' Lawrence James, The Times Napoleon Bonaparte's character and achievements have always divided critics and commentators In this compelling new biography Frank McLynn draws on the most recent scholarship and throws a brilliant light on this most paradoxical of men - as military leader, lover and emperor Tracing Napoleon's extraordinary career, McLynn examines the Promethean legend from the Corsican roots, through the years of the French Revolution and the m i litary triumphs, to the coronation in 1804 and ultimate defeat and imprisonment Napoleon the man emerges as an even more fascinating character than previously imagined, and McLynn brilliantly reveals the extent ro which he was both existential hero and plaything of Fate; mathematician and mystic; intellectual giant and moral pygmy; Great Man and deeply Aawed human being 'One of the year's best biographies A compelling portrait of one of history's greatest figures.' Catherine Lockerbie, Scotsman 'McLynn writes with considerable verve: his pithy characterisations of Napoleon's subordinates, the alternating chapters of narrative and analysis, and dramatic set pieces all these combine to make his biography pleasurable and instructive to read.' Brendan Simms, Evening Standard 'McLynn offers an admirably clear narrative, neither adulatOry nor debunking He acknowledges and displays the extraordinary tale and does nor hide the pettiness.' Allan Massie, Daily Telegraph 'A robust, well-paced biography which pans confidently from the seven year-old child educated by Jesuits to the ruins of imperial grandeur and death by slow arsenic poisoning on a bleak Sr Helena.' Colin Cardwell, Scotland on Sunday FIRST PAPERBACK PUBLICATION jacket Painting: Napoleon at Borodino Courtesy of Proctor Jones ISBN 0-7126-6247-2 Pimlico Random House 20 Vauxhall Bridge Road London SWI V 2SA www ndom house.co u Biography/History k £12.50 The legend in the making: Bonaparte at the Bridge of Arcole, 1796 De vio us manipulative, , pessimistic: Madame Mere (Maria Letizia Bonaparte) The acme of lubricious beauty: Pauline Bonaparte Joseph, Louis, Napoleon's 'complex' elder brother the reluctant accomplice Lucien, Jerome, the enemy within Napoleon's 'Benjamin' The Christ-like Bonaparte heals the sick at Jaffa in this hagiographic srudy by Gros (Opposite page) Marengo, 1800: the first of many close-run affairs J osephine Beauharnais, Creole beauty and Empress A secondHannibal but without the elephant: Napoleon crosses the Alps by mule Austerlitz: Napoleon's finest hour The invasion scare, 1803-04: an early vision of the Channel Tunnel ' The First Consul becomes Emperor: Napoleon's coronation, December 1804 created princess, 297 wife of Joseph, 77, So, S3, 206, 22 , 273 Clause!, General Bertrand, 546, 56 , 632 Clausewitz, Karl von 3S, 375-6, 2, 542 Cobenzl, Ludwig, 56-7 Cockburn, Admiral Sir George, 636, 639, 641 , 642 Code Napoleon, 65, 254-7 promulgation ( So2), 255 Cochrance, Admiral Thomas, 42 , 636 Colbourne, Sir John, 626 Colditz, battle of ( ! 3), 552 Colli, General, 1 Collingwood, Admiral Cuthbert, 33 Collot, Jean-Pierre, 204, 222 Colonna-Cesari, Colonel, 59 Commander-in-Chief of the Army of the Interior and governor of Paris, 96-103 Compiegne, chateau of, 468-9 Compoint, Louise, 175 Confederation of the Rhine, 346, 350, 353, 354, 359 , 379, 403, 0, 41 I , 414, 426, 432, sso , 552, ss6, 562 eclipsed at Leipzig ( I S 3), 572, 576 Consalvi, 247, 248, 433 Constant, Benjamin, 6o8, 629, 63o- , 666 reforms constitution ( I S I S), 6o9 Constantinople, 494 revolution ( S07), 376 constitutional reforms ( I 5), 6o9-10 Conte, Nicholas, 171, 83 Continental System: blockade of England, 378, 379 , 38 , 385, 389 {)0, 393, 394, 399, 423 , 427, 433, 436, 437, 43s, 447, 45 , 463 , 466, 477 {) , 48 , 482, 484-S, 486 {) o, 492, 493, 495, 497, soo, 501 contraband: growth industry, 4S3, 4S5-6, 4S7, 4S9 {) Copenhagen, battle of ( 8o i ), 234 Coquelle, 26S Corbineau, General, 533-4 Cordoba, 399, 400 Cornwallis, Admiral William, 326 blockade of Brest, 323, 324, 3 corps system, 40- , 44 Corsica crown offered to British, 63 English retreat, 34 factional struggle during French Revolution, 3S , 42, 49-53, 57-58, 6o-7 French encroachment, 6; revolt against French crushed at Ponte Novo, 6, independent movement against Genoa, vendetta, Corsica and Napoleon Adjutant-Major in Corsican Volunteers, so; elected lieutenant-colonel, 53; moral victory in Ajaccio, 54-5; rejoins volunteers, 59-60 career as Corsican revolutionary politician, 38 40, 42-56, 57-63 fugitive in Corsica, 62-3 impact of country on Napoleon, 2S8-