Customer Reviews

Author far too in love with Napoleon for objective study - By: PhilosopherKing, 14 Nov 2008
The Dummies series are usually quite good. This one fell a little below the usual standard, however,in my opinion.

The author was far tooin love with Napoleon to be able to write an objective appraisal. There were a few placesin which I learned a little but not many. The earlier chapters dealt with Napoleon's upbringing & education & I found some of this interesting. I enjoyed reading the fact that Napoleon learned French as a second language, that he enjoyed mathematics, history, geography & literature at the military academy. The story of how Napoleon managed to get into the academy was interesting & this involved some string pulling by his parents. Napoleon's father was an impoverished (former) member of the gentry & he managed to get a minor noble title reinstated. This meant that Napoleon became eligible for a scholaship at a military academy. Another relative left for France to studyin the military academy & yet another became a seminarian & eventually became a Cardinal. Although technically a gentleman/minor noble Napoleon was bullied & snubbedin his early years at military academy & he was looked down upon by the sons of the more important noble familes.

Having already read quite a lot of military history, I found that the chapters on the many battles provided an overview rather than an in-depth study.

I learned a little about the Code Napoleon that I didn't already know before.

Although I don't doubt that Napoleon was a genius, I think that the author spends far too much time whitewashing him. He is far too biased towards the French viewpoint versus the British & also fails to acknowledge that the French Revolution also caused many problems. France was badly run before the Revolution & the middle & lower classes were unfairly taxed. The nobles & senior clergy were selfish & inflexible & one can't feel sympathy for them. The author downplaysin my opinion, however, some of the undesirable aspects to the Revolution such as the gratuitous attack on religion which went far beyond just removing some of the Church's privileges. The American author clearly thinks that my country (Great Britain) wasin the wrong about just about everything from start to finish & exaggerates the "injustice" of Napoleon's treatment at the hands of the British. He also understates the disruption to international trade, the interferencein other countries' affairs & the sheer military aggressiveness of Napoleonic France.

I don't recommend this book although it is not completely worthless. The style is rather poor too. Poetry or drama it isn't.