The Age of Napoleon (Modern Library Chronicles) (Paperback) - Common

by Alistair Horne

The age of Napoleon transformed Europe, laying the foundations for the modern world. Now Alistair Horne, one of the great chroniclers of French history gives us a fresh account of that remarkable time. Born into poverty on the remote island of Corsica, he rose to prominence in the turbulent years following the French Revolution, when most of Europe was arrayed against France. Through a string of brilliant and improbable victories (gained as much through his remarkable ability to inspire his troops as through his military genius), Napoleon brought about a triumphant peace that made him the idol of France and, later, its absolute ruler.Heir to the Revolution, Napoleon himself was not a revolutionary; rather he was a reformer and a modernizer, both liberator and autocrat. Looking to the Napoleonic wars that raged on the one hand, and to the new social order emerging on the other, Horne incisively guides readers through every aspect of Napoleon’s two-decade from France’s newfound commitment to an aristocracy based on merit rather than inheritance, to its civil code (Napoleon’s most important and enduring legacy), to censorship, cuisine, the texture of daily life in Paris, and the influence of Napoleon abroad. At the center of Horne’s story is a singular man, one whose ambition, willpower, energy and ability to command changed history, and continues to fascinate us today.From the Hardcover edition.

Genres: History, France, Nonfiction, Biography, War, European History

218 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Sir Alistair Allan Horne was an English journalist, biographer and historian of Europe, especially of 19th and 20th century France. He wrote more than 20 books on travel, history, and biography. He won the following awards: Hawthornden Prize, 1963, for The Price of Glory; Yorkshire Post Book of the Year Prize and Wolfson Literary Award, both 1978, both for A Savage War of Peace: Algeria 1954-1962; French Légion d'Honneur, 1993, for work on French history;and Commander of the British Empire (CBE), 2003.

Reviews

[C Manuel Contente · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a solid study for those interested in learning about the Napoleonic Age, but necessarily about Napoleon's military exploits. This study predominantly focuses on the social and cultural aspects of Napoleon's rule, with a smattering of military history here and there.

This is the second book I have read by Horne and he has excellent writing which makes historical subjects approachable. As someone pursuing a graduate degree in history, I would highly recommend this to anyone, in academia or not, who is interested in learning more about the Napoleonic era or is looking for a solid starting point to pursue research in that area.

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Napoleon Bonaparte cast a long shadow over history, considering the relative slightness of his origins. Who would expect a boy from a conquered island to rise to the height of power and command one of the greatest empires in history, and leave a legacy even grander? Alistair Horne's contribution to the Modern Library Chronicles series discusses that legacy in part, although it is a mere sample of what one might say about the Emperor. Horne himself has written larger, more exhaustive works on the same subject, but this series consists of compact introductions. Horne's account focuses on life in the empire away from the war, treating military affairs in general as background material only to be referenced occasionally. A story told in eleven short chapters (including an epilogue), Horne discusses Napoleon's rise to power, his ambitious vision for both France and Europe (unified and modern), how society responded to him both at home and abroad, the corrupting effects of hubris as his influence grew, and eventually his downfall. Other books on the Modern Library Chronicles series have succeeded in meaningful summaries of broad subjects by focusing on a few key points, like Karen Armstrong's treatment of ummah (political-spiritual community) in Islam. Horne's reach is more broad, and not quite as potent. Even so, I don't know if the emphasis on society and culture in the Napoleon era is one covered by many other books, which would tend to focus more on politics and military games. On the whole, The Age of Napoleon is a short but enjoyable read, its ideal audience being lay persons who are faintly curious about Napoleon but who have little interest in reading about military maneuvers.

Related:
"Paris", from The City in Mind by James Howard Kunstler, in which Napoleon's architectural legacy is discussed more thoroughly.

[J.M. Hushour · Rating 4 out of 5]

Horne is a fine writer--"A Savage War of Peace" still stands as one of the more remarkable works of history in the past century--and I was surprised to discover he'd penned this slim little Modern Library curiosity, a brief history of Napoleon's era. There is nothing earth-shattering or iconoclastic here. Horne draws off of much worthy historiography on the subject. It's still entertaining, but probably not for a layperson. There's a lot of assumed knowledge and name-dropping. Much of the work focuses on the state of various aspects of French society and culture (the theatre, prostitutes, workers, fashion, prostitutes, etc.) making this probably not a good first choice for anyone wanting to learn about Boney in great detail. Still, though, an enjoyable read. Merde!

[Mate77 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Despite the intention of the author, this is still a by and large military history/biography, and a short one at that. The few chapters that deal with the culture and the everyday life in France are short and sparse, although illuminating. I expected the book would cover Napoleon's influence outside of France, alas that did not happen. Very little space was given to Napoleon's reforms, both home and abroad, and to the Code Napoleon, arguably his biggest legacy. All this aside, it's not a badly written book, and it can potentially serve as an introduction for further reading as the bibliography at the end is quite substantial.

[Sara Girardi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m sure this would be a very good read for people that know enough about Napoleon to recognize the people and battles mentioned in the novel but for someone that doesn’t, it was hard to get through this and I have already forgotten about 90% of what I read. I was hoping this would talk more about his military victories but the overall focus was on societal views of Napoleon. Not a bad thing, just not what I wanted.

[Darren Goossens · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review from https://darrengoossens.wordpress.com/2017/11/12/quite-a-big-deal/.

The Age of Napoleon by Alistair Horne.

This book does a very readable job of looking at the influence of Napoleon. The famous battles -- Austerlitz, Trafalgar, Wagram and all -- are mentioned but not discussed in detail. They provide context, they chart the rise and fall of his empire, but they are not the focus of the book. In many ways Bonaparte reminds more of Alexander the Great than other modern conquerors. His time in charge was brief, he founded no long-lasting, united empire. Yet his influence was enormous and did persist. His was an epoch when the work of centuries seemed to happen in years. Much of what the revolution started was finished (or at least advanced far enough to make turning back impossible) by the dictator. From the metric system to reorganisation of schools and the redesigning of Paris itself.



Paris. In many ways this is a book of two stars. Paris and Napoleon, for in this book France and Paris are synonymous. We get the occasional sentence pointing out how desperate things were in the provinces, but we never visit there. That is the only real weakness of the book (aside from some odd editing -- there is considerable repetition that might have been excised). Yes, it takes us away from the political histories that focus on battles and borders and the struggle for leadership, but only as far as the salons and streets of Paris. How did Paris react to the rise and fall of Bonaparte? What monuments did he build there? How were the Prussians and the English received after the fall(s)? It's all here -- if it happened in Paris.

The book does cover the age of Napoleon in Paris. His influence on the rest of the continent is alluded to (he is credited with releasing the 'genie of German nationalism', thus triggering the events of the next 130 years, events that would end in another conquering dictator whose efforts ended in ignominy). Hitler is explicitly compared with Napoleon, and reasonably enough comes off poorly, since Napoleon does not seem to have engaged in genocide, slavery or rampant anti-Semitism. He did run a police state, though, and was rather keen on monumental architecture.

The book is a quick, easy read. It does a nice job of outlining the times and the man's role in them.

Solid.

[Stephen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Napoleon is a character who fascinates the British. If asked to point to our major accomplishments in Europe, many British people would mention Waterloo and the defeat of Napoleon. This is more readily accessible than Hitler because there was a single decisive battle rather than the more nebulous occupation of Germany. Alistair Horne is an accomplished historian whose works are known to me. I have enjoyed some of his previous works. It was with a great sense of expectation that I came to this book when I was given it as a present.

The actual book is a disappointment. Instead of being treated to a series of essays on Napoleon as a military leader, Napoleon as an administrator, or Napoleon as a giver of laws, we are given a number of chapters which consist of fragments of prose that are loosely stitched together. The book lacks a central coherence that brings it all together. In this, I was disappointed.

Some of the fragments are quite good. However, they appear infrequently and reading the book felt a bit like a lucky dip. Maybe we would have a good passage. Maybe we wouldn't. I did stick with the book to the very end, but I was sorely tempted to lay it aside at a number of points.

Of course, we could argue that with so much about Napoleon already in print, what more did I expect? I admit that any new book on Napoleon would probably be going over old ground, which begs the question as to why the book was published in the first place? On balance, I think that it would have been better not to publish the book because it gives us nothing new, is episodic in its construction, and rather puts me off the author.

[Luke Cummins · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you're looking for a concise introduction to the Napoleonic Era, don't look here. Though informative the book has a loose narrative flow and introduces charecters and references events which need some pre-understanding of the Revolution and Napoleons conquests. The book hardly touches on the military events which surrounded Napoleons reign, but instead talks about his personal life and the implications of his reign socially in both France and the whole of Europe.

The value of 'Age Of Napoleon' comes in it's interesting narrative structure and it's tidbits that you wouldn't find in a text book, and the characterization of Napoleon himself. For example, this book talks strongly about some of the interesting minor charecter's that made up Napoleon's administrative force, his daily living, goes into detail about Napoleon's reconstruction of Paris and has many inconsequential but interesting entries about Napoleons, such as his penchant for the theater ultimately leading to his bedding of many famous actresses of the day, and his furious attention to detail outside his militaristic conquests.

Read if you're interested in Napoleon already and want to learn more about him as a person, and come armed with a basic knowledge of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Era. However, prepare to be disappointing if you expect tales of his military exploits nor a year by year detail of his rise to power and political undertakings, though If I recall correctly Horne has published another book on Napoleon which details the military perspective on Napoleon.

[Chase Parsley · Rating 3 out of 5]

On one hand, this book is certainly readable. It is a fascinating time period, and I motored through it in a week, enjoying much of it. On the other hand though, I feel that something was lacking. For starters, I wish the author would explain several of the big events more: the Peninsular War, the origins of the French Revolution and the Assemby's early days, the Russian campaign, and Waterloo were barely described, as if the reader should already fully understand these things. Second, Horne went a bit overboard with using French phrases and it became a small annoyance. Regardless, read this if you love Napoleon (you do learn a ton about him as a person in this book) and/or the era, but make sure you know the basics of the French Rev. etc. first.

[Billhotto · Rating 3 out of 5]

Horne skips over the political and military events of Napoleon's life and concentrates on his effect on French and European life and culture. Napoleon had an amazing ability to multitask, he jumped from one project to another while focusing only on the one at hand. Military matters were foremost, but he also planned to unite France, rebuild Paris, defeat England and kowtow Europe. His main permanent achievement was his legal reform, the Code Napoleon. An unintended legacy was to encourage the development of the great 20th century powers. His wars ended with Cossacks on the streets of Paris, Prussia became the leading country in Germany and German nationalism was begun, and by selling Louisiana in 1803, Napoleon set the U.S. on the path of continental expansion.

[Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short whirlwind tour of the years of Napoleon's influence, roughly 1795-1815. It is not a biography of Napoleon, or a military history. Its focus is the cultural influence of Napoleon and his times, though Horne does briefly outline major biographical and military events. Horne has written more extensively on Napoleon, and this short book reads like an abridgement by a scholar who cherry-picks facts for their amusement value. The result is an entertaining but shallow treatment.

[Doug · Rating 2 out of 5]

maybe if I read instead of heard the book it might have been better. Since I speak no French the untranslated headlines, proverbs, phrases, etc. were very annoying. were they important? I have no idea.

[Jake Berlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

a very solid execution of a good idea: a non-military history of napoleonic france. this this just the right amount of detail while still remaining short and readable.

[Patty · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nonfiction about (supposedly) the cultural impact of Napoleon's rule.

I wanted to read a book about Napoleon – yes, this was inspired by the new movie, I am not unaffected by advertising campaigns – but I've never been a fan of military history and cannot bear reading anything involving diagrams of battle movements. Trying to find a book without either eliminated most of the many, many, many Napoleon books out there. I searched for a social history of Napoleon, but that seems to be surprisingly rare; The Age of Napoleon was more or less the only one I found. It promised to focus on "censorship, cuisine, the texture of daily life in Paris, and the influence of Napoleon abroad", which seemed like the exact type of thing I like!

Unfortunately, it does not deliver. Horne has written several books on Napoleon, and he clearly expects you to have read those first; he's constantly referencing battles or people or treaties with no explanation – and yes, the battles do play a major role despite my attempts to avoid them, though at least there's no fucking battle diagrams. There's never any background or context for the events Horne does delve into, which makes the book feel like a series of disconnected anecdotes. Adding to the randomness is the way Horne frequently repeats himself, using the same quote or event in multiple chapters. Overall, it's more of a psychological biography of Napoleon than a cultural history. There's no 'texture of daily life' at all, and the closest we get to cultural influence is a long while spent on Napoleon dictating various architectural changes within Paris.

But. All of that is not my main complaint. All of that would be fine, in fact, if boring and unlikely to lead to me recommending the book. No, my main complaint is Horne's appalling style of describing women, sex, and minorities. Let me give you a few quotes to illustrate what I mean. About Josephine's country estate:
“At Malmaison, Napoleon also had a better chance of keeping the voracious sexual appetite of the hot-blooded Creole under control.”
This! was! published! in! 2004! Who writes like this after the 19th century? Also, Horne refers to Josephine as "the Creole" constantly throughout the book, and it never gets less weird. To be fair, Horne is equally racist/disdainful of Napoleon's sexual appetite, repeatedly alluding to his "Mediterranean" passion and "Corsican" blood.

Another quote, about an actress:
“Only fifteen at her debut as Clytemnestra in November 1802, but already physically mature with firm, full breasts, Mademoiselle George stunned Paris, and within a few months she had made her way to Napoleon’s bed.”
I understand that, as a soon-to-be famous sex symbol, it probably was necessary to describe George's looks. But did I really need to read about the texture of a 15 year old's breasts? (Also, what the hell source is Horne citing for that, other than his imagination?) Equally, I know absolutely nothing about this historical figure, but I am deeply suspicious of describing a 15 year old as the "seducer" rather than seduced.

About one of the politicians who worked under Napoleon, whom Horne has been sure to inform us is a "flamboyant homosexual":
“There were ripples of scornful laughter at the sight of Cambaceres mincing onto the platform in his new blue cloak spotted with gold leaves”.
Look, y'all. Let's be real. This is describing a public spectacle during France's First Empire. I have no doubt that every single person there was dressed like their life depended on covering themselves with brocade, gold embroidery, and ermine. And yet somehow we're singling out the gay man for mockery. Hmmm. Surely this has nothing to do with Horne's feelings about homosexuality.

Somewhere out there is the Napoleonic social history of my dreams, but it's absolutely not this book.

[Esoteric Grimoire · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Age of Napoleon" by popular historian Alistair Horne is a treatment of the reign of Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte from a social and political point of view as opposed to the usual military treatment of the man's life. Horne focuses heavily on the effects of the Napoleonic Wars and Napoleon's grand and sweeping legislation on the people of France, specifically using the popular reactions of the Parisian population. A good deal of Napoleon's lasting legacy, according to Horne, lies in his civil reforms Napoleon's endeavor to consolidate and create a more unified French culture, one that did not exist under the Ancien Regime (Bourbon Monarchy) with its parish/province specific law codes, landed aristocracy, and ancient privileges and rights. The introduction of a meritocracy in the form of the Legion of Honour, a civil and military order that recognized outstanding performance and dedication. As well as Napoleons reworking of French Law, the consolidation of more than 300+ parish and provincial law codes into a single "federal" law code, the Code Napoleon, whose vestiges and structure remain to this day. The book is short and sweet, I would highly recommend it for anyone who is looking for a civil rather than a military treatment of Napoleon's legacy.

[Julia]

I do not know much about Napoleon, in fact, this is the first book I ever read on the subject. The reason was my curiousity for the man, the era, and a possible master thesis subject. However, I do know something about historical writing and I can tell you, this is not how it is done. The book was all over the place, the chapters lacked focus and (again!!) a proper research question. It felt like an accumulation of fun facts. Not what I was looking for.

And then again, if you want me mad, which Alistair apparently wanted, you should definitely make a one on one unnuanced comparison between Hitler and Napoleon. Stop comparing previous leaders from different times and locations to Hitler when it has no added value to your non-existing argument, thank you very much.

Now let's hope Andrew Roberts' biography is better otherwise I am in trouble.

[Michael Schneider · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a little bit confused about the point of this book. It's short enough that you would consider it a primer, except that it seems to expect a level of foreknowledge about his campaigns that wouldn't make sense. It seems much more concerned with painting a short, charming portrait of Napoleons personality and effect on parisian culture. Why else would it be left to page 159 of 193 to inform the reader of the dissolution of the holy roman empire as an aside while covering the birth of Napoleon II years later? Read this book if you want to learn some fun facts, like napoleon passive aggressively giving the pope a tiara made from jewels he looted from the vatican (hilarious, doubtlessly), but if you trust the title and expect a larger summary of both the man and the era, stop. it's just a fun supplemental.

[James Varney · Rating 3 out of 5]

It might be unfair to give this only 3 stars because the book is very good at what it wants to do, that just wasn't what I wanted it to do. That is, it gives an excellent account of life in Paris during Napoleon, from his public works projects to passages on court life and Pere Lachaise, etc. And it offers a wonderful, cutting profile of Talleyrand. I was looking for more on Napoleon's campaigns and how he was perceived by opponents/rivals.

[M.C. · Rating 1 out of 5]

Turgid right-wing rubbish. For example, Horne throughout suggests that because most forms of the Revolution continued under the Directoire, therefore so did the content. He also from time to time suggests that the Revolution was in some ways socialist. The only thing of value in the book is the Chronology at the beginning.

[Adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Najbolja knjiga koju sam do sada pročitao.

Zadnje poglavlje mi je bilo najzanimljivije jer se govori o mom dražem dijelu Napoleonove vladavine, ratovi itd.

Zbog nekih meni dosadnih dijelova, građevine itd., čistih 4.9

[Mitchell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Went to the library looking for a biography of Napoleon. Found this survey of life during his reign instead. Short, witty and repetitive. The history of the era is hung on the outline of Napoleon's life.

I still need a bio of Napoleon to fill in the gaps

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

One weird history book, but maybe in a good way - completely glossed over military history, almost glossed over political history, so this is kind of a cultural history. Even then, it's a weird one - focusing a lot of architecture. Repetitive. Not bad.

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one’s my favorite, so far. Horne does an excellent job at humanizing Napoleon, but also showing how childish and petty he (and the other major players of the day) was and how that undid a lot of strategic intention.

[Hettie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting book, it did contain some editing issues. Perhaps it was merely the way the book was structured but there was quite a lot of repetition

[Pam Christison · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is less a history of Napoleon and more some things that happened in France in the early 1800's. Fine if you already know some napoleonic history.

[Tunes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting. Very well researched. Frustrating, though, that the French words and phrases interspersed in the book were not translated anywhere for those of us who don't speak it.

[Thomas Henry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was excellent, though it dragged just a bit in the middle. A great way to get to grips with Napoleon’s impact off the battlefield, delivered in Horne’s witty and engaging writing style.

[Michael T. Cox · Rating 2 out of 5]

I guess I should not complain given that it cost me only a couple of dollars for the Kindle version. However, I thought this was too short of a manuscript for such a topic and found myself disappointed throughout given the cursory coverage in each chapter. Since so many books on Napolean focus on his military exploits and give short shrift to his political, legal and social influences, I had anticipated that Horne's reversal of emphasis would be fascinating. Instead the book ended up a tease.

[Vel Veeter]

Like a lot of generally well-educated people I FEEL like I know a lot about Napoleon. But as a person who knows me, I actually know that I don't actually know very much about Napoleon. It's possible that a significant amount of my knowledge of Napoleon comes from fictional sources like Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure and Assassin's Creed: Unity. And more to the point, a lot of what I know about Napoleon come from British sources. This led me a question I still don't have the answer to, which is, what is the reputation and connotation of Napoleon within French culture? It's going to take a lot more time to sort this one out. Given his autocratic rule and his military expansionist imperlialism, and given how ultimately inglorious end, it's not easy in common sources to find the answer to this question in a way that really satisfies my curiosity.

So this book does not do that either. It's a perfectly solid book for what it does want to do, which is paint a clearer picture of the domestic rule of Napoleon's reign, given how much focus there is in the military campaigns. Again, this goes back to the idea that since multiple other nations have lots of opinions of the military campaigns through direct experience, this all makes sense. In addition, so much is known and discusses about the French Revolution and so much about the later decades of the 19th century -- Les Mis for example, this is...not exactly a dead period, but one that is less discussed.

So the book has a limited focus and a limited success, but I did find it interesting. My favorite section involves the creation of Pere Lashaise, the very famous, but also very commercial cemetery that houses such figures as Balzac and Jim Morrison.