Napoleon

by H.A.L. Fisher

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Genres: History, Biography, Nonfiction

506 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1912

About the author

Herbert Albert Laurens Fisher OM PC FRS, was English historian, educator, and Liberal politician. He served as President of the Board of Education in David Lloyd George's 1916 to 1922 coalition government.

Reviews

[Raza Saeed · Rating 1 out of 5]

It had too much about Napoleon's conquests and not enough about Napoleon the man. The battle details and strategy were brilliantly explained. But Napoleon's motivation behind everything were not explored, aside from a few paragraphs here and there.

[Mark Blane · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is too short at 137 pages to be considered a true biography of Napoleon, but rather, I consider it an insightful "illustrative portrait or sketch" of Napoleon coming from the British perspective. I have heard this book portrays Napoleon in a "negative light," but I did not find this as such. If anything, Butterfield "calls it as he sees it." An overly ambitious man who led to his own ruin.

Yet, Butterfield gives credit where credit is due to Napoleon, and this is particularly seen when Butterfield names his accomplishments and legacy including the Napoleonic Civil Legal Code among other items he achieved as his tenure as emperor of France.

[Stacy Rogers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having little knowledge of Napoleon before reading this book, I would say this was a great introduction. The author was fair, pointed out his mistakes and his good qualities. It was a unique perspective of probably the most hated man in European history.

[Rob Markley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well thought of critical biography of Napoleon. Good enough job done.

[Travis Struchen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Napoleon – Herbert Butterfield 10/08
Cc1939
I waited too long to write my review of this book and have forgotten most of it save for the general idea. (1/12/09) currently

The author goes into some detail of Napoleon’s eccentricities, including 12 minute dinnertimes and 8 minute lunch times, so that he could not waste time and get back to work. How he was constantly followed by his dictator so that all his ideas could be made permanent.

Napoleon was from Corsica, Island off of Italy. Italy was entangled in the French revolution and was the first area outside of france to fall under napoleon’s power. After his down fall the French people, weary of the hard life he had put them through, disowned him, except for a few loyalist and sent him off to Corsica. Napoleon, ever thinking and scheming tried to stage his comeback a year or so after his banishment with a grand entrance back onto the scene but it failed.

During late 1700s Napoleon had a keen eye to capatilize on what was happening in France. The fall of the monarchy and the Jacobin revolution was raging. He stepped in to give the common man and france a look that was far ahead of his contemporaries. Infrustructure and programs for everyday citizens were set up (education etc) for French citizens like no other form of government had ever attempted. Napoleon never stopped his war from the moment he took power. In the end it was the Russians who in 1812 were able to march on him after he retreated from Moscow bitterly. At one point his empire stretched to western Europe save for britian which he tried to bring down my a strict embargo, all the way to northern Africa and coastal Mediterranean.

[Richard Klueg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Does not claim to be a biography of Napoleon, but "an interpretive portrait." Written in 1939 from a British perspective (he often refers to Britain in the first person plural), the author's thesis is that Napoleon used the energy of the French Revolution to his advantage to build a more efficient modern nation (and a modern dictatorship) while his opponents were still stuck in the old order of things. I do not possess the competence to judge his conclusions, except to say I found it interesting.

[Joshua Horn · Rating 2 out of 5]

A dull telling of a fascinating life. Fisher glosses over important and interesting aspects of his life - giving only a sentence to his escape from Elba. Instead he gives analysis using broad generalizations of the character of men and nations, without giving any evidence to back them up.

The book does, however, have a lot of good information about Napoleon. It just could have been presented in a much more interesting and informative way.

[Boni · Rating 4 out of 5]

A compact powerful portrait of Napoleon