Book description
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, Mc Lynn 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 to which he was both existential hero
and plaything of Fate; mathematician and mystic; intellectual giant
and moral pygmy; Great Man and deeply flawed human being.
Frank McLynn is a highly regarded historian, who specializes in
biographies and military history. He has written over 20 books,
including critically acclaimed biographies of Napoleon and Richard the
Lionheart. Other books include
1066
,
Stanley, 1759,
Marcus Aurelius
and, most recently,
The Road Not Taken: How Britain Narrowly Missed a
Revolution.
He is a graduate of Wadham College, Oxford, and London University, where
he obtained his doctorate.
