Book description
A masterly biography of Napoleon, concentrating on his private life, by
the historian described by Stella Tillyard as 'a master portraitist of
great men's private lives' and by Amanda Foreman as 'one of England's
greatest living historical writers'.
Modern history has produced one single myth on a heroic scale to rival
those of Alexander and Caesar - that of Napoleon. The continuing
fascination of this astonishingly gifted man is reflected in the number
of books published each year on various aspects of the Napoleonic
legend: some 250,000 volumes in all since Napoleon's mysterious death in 1821.
What is still needed is now provided by Christopher Hibbert: an
authoritative up-to-date account of Napoleon's private life at all
stages of his developing and extraordinary career, based on the fruits
of modern research, his character, interests and tastes, his
friendships, enmities and love affairs, his relations with the members
of his remarkable family, the impressions he made on his contemporaries
away from the council chamber and the battlefield, his personal life at
war, in exile and as emperor in peacetime, the mystery surrounding his
death: in short, the man revealed behind the soldier, statesman and
legend. Described by Professor Sir John Plumb as a 'writer of the
highest ability' & by the New Statesman as 'a pearl of biographers',
Christopher Hibbert is our leading popular historian whose works reflect
meticulous scholarship. His books also include THE DeSTRUCTION OF LORD
RAGLAN, THE COURT AT WINDSOR, LONDON and ROME, THE RISE AND FALL OF THE
HOUSE OF MEDICI etc. His biography of QUEEN VICTORIA will be published
in autumn 2000 (HC).
