The definitive biography of Napoleon -- hailed as "magnificent" by The Economist. "What a novel my life has been!" Napoleon once said of himself. Born into a poor family, the callow young man was, by twenty-six, an army general. Seduced by an older woman, his marriage transformed him into a galvanizing military commander. The Pope crowned him as Emperor of the French when he was only thirty-five. Within a few years, he became the effective master of Europe, his power unparalleled in modern history. His downfall was no less dramatic. The story of Napoleon has been written many times. In some versions, he is a military genius, in others a war-obsessed tyrant. Here, historian Adam Zamoyski cuts through the mythology and explains Napoleon against the background of the European Enlightenment, and what he was himself seeking to achieve. This most famous of men is also the most hidden of men, and Zamoyski dives deeper than any previous biographer to find him. Beautifully written, Napoleon brilliantly sets the man in his European context.
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“Napoleon is an out and out masterpiece and a joy to read.”
— Sir Antony Beevor, New York Times bestselling author
Adam Zamoyski is an award-winning author of numerous books about Poland, Napoleon, and nineteenth-century Europe. A contributor to the London Times, Daily Telegraph, and Guardian and a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, the Royal Society of Arts, and the Royal Society of Literature, Zamoyski lives in London.
Leighton Pugh trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art after studying modern languages at Queen’s College, Oxford. He has narrated audiobooks for Penguin, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Random House, Hachette, and Quercus. His radio work includes the plays Murder by the Book and Scenes from Provincial Life for BBC Radio 4 and the voice of Heinrich von Kleist in the BBC Radio 3 documentary The Tragical Adventure of Heinrich von Kleist. From 2010–2011 he was in four productions at the National Theatre, including The Habit of Art and A Woman Killed with Kindness.