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1: The Reign of Napoleon
A really concise review of all the political machinations going on during the Napoleonic wars. Excellent insight into why and how the events unfolded during this time.
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2: The Reign of Napoleon Bonaparte is a good general history of the reign of the little coroporal from Corsica
"The Reign of Napoleon Bonaparte" is the second volume on the life of Napoleon by Robert Asprey. Volume One was entitled "The Rise of Napoleon Bonaparte" covering his life from his birth in 1769 on Corsica to his victory at Austerlitz in 1085. That volume ends with Napoleon as the crowned emperor. All is well with the emperor!
In this final volume we see Napoleon meet his Waterloo as he is soundly defeated by Lord Wellington and the allies on June 18, 1815. Napoleon, who had earlier escaped from captivity on Elba where he had been exiled since his defeat at the Battle of the Nations, spent the last six years of his life on the South Sea island of St. Helena. Here Napoleon spent six miserable years of ennui, physical ailments and relatively harsh treatment from his English captors. His disdain for the governor of the ilsand Hudson Lowe was mutual. A sad end for the man who had made the great nations of Europe live in fear of the Grande Armee's military juggernaut.
Asprey briefly covers the major battles of this period. If you wish to study them in greater depth turn to David Chandler or John Elting's fine works on these huge and bloody confrontations. Asprey is good in superficially covering Napoleon's many amours including the sexy Marie
Walewski of Poland as well as his second wife Marie of Austria. Napoleon divorced the unfaithful Josephine but loved her until her death in 1814.
This book is a good introduction to the life and career of France's most famous political/military man. Napoleon was complex, hot-headed and
a man who had trouble dealing with the hand played him by Madame Fate.This
is a readable book. The maps included are minimal and poorly drawn. The period illustrations are well reproduced. It is a good book worthy to have a place on the bookshelves of miltary history buffs.
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3: Eminently Readable Napolean Bio - Part II
Robert Asprey has written an outstanding biography about one of the world's greatest (or infamous) leaders.
Not drenched in military minutia or battlefield granularity, this 2nd volume presents a balanced and fair overview of the man and his leadership of France.
Asprey's literary style is entertaining and brisk. If you're looking for a bio that'll provide you with a solid foundation about how Napolean impacted Europe and the World -- you can't go wrong here.
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4: Part 2 of an excellent biography
This is part two of the best biography of Napoleon that I have read. It is a focus on political and military history but does a decent job of covering the social aspects of napoleon's reforms. This book really focuses on the Napoleonic empire and its eventual fall. It also covers his return to power and does an excellent job of presenting the information clearly. The prose is well done and really makes for quick and interesting reading. This is a must have for anyone studying this era.
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5: napoleon book bombs
I agree with Mr. Brooks' negative review on "Reign of Napoleon Bonaparte," by Robert Asprey. It would be comparable to reading a biography of Babe Ruth that was written by studying the box scores. The book has hardly anything about Napoleon's persona, which is promised in the preface, and important events are trivialized and hardly mentioned. After reading this and learning almost nothing, I opened a copy of Emil Ludwig's biograpy of Napoleon, written in 1926, which I had picked up years ago. Ludwig's book is much better.
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