Napoleon: The Path to Power

Napoleon Bonaparte is one of those leaders, like Churchill and Lincoln, about whom so much ink has already been spilled that it's hard to believe any writer has much usefully to add about him. Philip Dwyer is the rare historian who does, as he demonstrates in this very good biography.

As he swept across Europe like a tide, washing away remnants of the medieval order, Bonaparte became a prototype for many of the worst types of the twentieth century: master of political propaganda, military dictator, and centralizing-unifying-standardizing Leader of "the people" and fulfillment of the Revolution. As such, he's been a hero to megalomaniacs everywhere. But Dwyer cuts through all that to show us the vain, brutal, and intensely driven young show more man at the heart of it all. I found it interesting and useful that for much of the book, Dwyer refers to his subject as "Buonaparte," the Corsican-Italian name he was born with, only adopting the French spelling as he began to rise in prominence and visibility. It's a strong reminder of the importance of Bonaparte's position, during so much of his early life, on the geographic and social margins of French society.

French Revolutionary and Napoleonic history has never really been my thing, preferring as I do other parts of Europe and other eras in time. But not only did I very much enjoy this book on its own merits and learn a great deal from it, but I'm also most pleased to see this is intended to be the first volume in a biographical series. I'm sure the subsequent volume(s) will continue the strong pace set by this first book. show less

Excellent combination of scholarship and readability. Military history is not overemphasized, and the battle scenes that are presented are generally well supported by maps. (The one exception is the Battle of the Nile; but considering that this was a naval battle of Nelson versus Brueys, the absence of a battle map is consistent with the somewhat cursory treatment that Dwyer legitimately gives to a battle in which Napoleon himself played virtually no part.)

One complaint might be that Dwyer gives too summary a treatment to the French Revolution itself, but it's probably fair to expect a reader to have at least a general knowledge of this historical event and Dwyer does give a very good background of Paoli and Corsica, so important to show more Bonaparte's early life but not that well known among contemporary readers.

I also like the numerous illustrations of artwork that pertain to the Napoleonic myth and Dwyer's excellent tie-in between these illustrations and his text. show less

A rather long and rambling account of the rise to power of a humble corporal. A person who invented himself and hand crafted his way to ascendency through very tumultuous times for his country Starting with the Revolution, The terror under Robespierre, The Directory which was succeeded by his installation as Dictator. As they say, history repeats itself and another personality, in the same neighborhood, followed similar tactics almost a century and a half later to the utter horror and detriment of the whole world.

5092. Napoleon The Path to Power, by Philip Dwyer (read 29 Nov 2013) This book, first published in 2007, covers in interesting and vivid detail Napoleon's life up to the time of his seizure of power in November 1799. It is the fourth Napoleon biography I have read--having read John Holland Rose's 2-volume biography in August 1957, Alan Schom's on 15 May 1998, and Frank McLynn's on 24 Nov 2002. The book shows well how Napoleon over-glorified his victories and de-emphasized or lied about his defeats. The book does not say much good about Napoleon and there is not a great deal of good to say about him during the years covered by this book. A further volume will cover the balance of Napoleon's life and maybe some good things will be shown show more in such volume. But I found this a hugely readable and exciting account, even though it does not show Napoleon in a good light. His seizure of power was a near run thing and blatantly illegal--he was much helped by the inepitude of his enemies. show less

The author states in his front matter that his intent is to write a biography emphasizing self-promotion as a major factor in Napoleon Bonaparte's rise to power. That sounds very much like the words of a man who is not in thrall to the Napoleonic Legend, and indeed the author takes a dim view of Bonaparte's abilities and personality. Yet bias is not the essential problem with this Brontosaurus. The problem, at bottom, is that his vehicle to examine said self-promotion is to obsess over some rather uninteresting paintings, newspapers, and plays in tedious detail; moreover, the reproductions of the paintings are so small and dark that the reader cannot follow along with the points he is making--admittedly the publisher's fault, not his show more own. Add on his fascination with abstruse tangents such as Corsica's politics in the revolutionary age, and the book soon becomes tiresome. The book contains very little military detail, which makes it a sketchy biography indeed, and one might suggest that if the author did simply want to explicate Bonapartist self-promotion, he should have written a shorter, more focused book on that specific subject, and ridden his hobbyhorse down that path. show less

For me, perfect. How did Bonaparte come to be who he was during the terror and post Thermidor. And that's what Dwyer focuses on: The italian campaign, Egypt and Napoleon's return to France. The book ends with Brumaire. Good intro to learn more.

A rather long and rambling account of the rise to power of a humble corporal. A person who invented himself and hand crafted his way to ascendency through very tumultuous times for his country Starting with the Revolution, The terror under Robespierre, The Directory which was succeeded by his installation as Dictator. As they say, history repeats itself and another personality, in the same neighborhood, followed similar tactics almost a century and a half later to the utter horror and detriment of the whole world.