Napoleon's Library: The Emperor, His Books and Their Influence on the Napoleonic Era

by Louis Sarkozy

Napoleon Bonaparte held absolute political power in France and his influence stretched across Europe and beyond. Yet he remained – between leading his armies and ruling over a vast empire – an indefatigable reader who even carried libraries into battle. Bonaparte’s love of the written word, birthed in childhood and nurtured as an adolescent and young adult, never left him. He was a lover of literature for its own sake – often swooning over melodramatic love stories – but he also understood the value of books as instruments of power. Before his campaigns, he poured over dozens of texts relating to the relevant theatres’ geography, population, trade, and history. When contemplating grave decisions, such as his divorce to Empress Josephine, he consulted the historical record for useful precedents to justify and inform his actions. To bolster his troop’s morale during challenging times, he constantly referenced history in his proclamations, making his contemporaries feel as if they were actively shaping history. They were. The library of an individual is the key to his mind. Behind the grandiose paintings of the victorious conqueror and the constructions of the propagandist, stands the reader. This book is an attempt to glimpse Napoleon’s character without the veneer of imperial glory. What was he like, alone at night by his fireplace? What thoughts percolated in the mind of the ambitious 20-year-old, isolated in a little room while theorizing about man’s happiness? Who are the literary and historical figures which can claim to have had impacted his life? Who were his favourite authors? Through this book the reader will embark on a literary promenade with the great general and statemen. In these pages are found the emperor’s favourite authors. And with them, the key to understanding his mind.

Genres: History, Biography, Books About Books

224 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 2024

Reviews

[Ed · Rating 4 out of 5]

An overview of the life of Napoleon Bonaparte, with his rise to power and the books that influenced him in his lifetime.

[Emil · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a really good book! I randomly stumbled upon it on eBay and bought it on the spot. The descriptions of Napoleon's literary influences throughout his youth were particularly enlightening, and I appreciate the mini-biographies. Imagining Napoleon chucking out books on his retreat from Moscow is particularly amusing.

I'd recommend the book to anyone looking for a quick read into the books that shaped both Napoleon and his time - there is plenty of inspiration as to what to read after you've read this!

It's a shame I couldn't make the book signing in London two weeks ago to meet you (Louis) and Lord Roberts, but hopefully, there will be a next time.

[Logan Crossley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book, written by Louis Sarkozy (yes, he belongs to that family; and apparently he has some …. unsavory views on certain political topics, which I only appreciated after finishing the book and Googling his name), probably should have been a monograph. Napoleon’s Library bears certain hallmarks of scholarly writing, but most importantly, it shows unmistakable signs of a book adapted from academic papers. The seams are often visible where the author presumably wrote several independent papers for classes or for scholarly publication about one or another Napoleonic intrigues, and subsequently he zipped them all together under a broader heading about the relationship between Napoleon and books. Notice I didn’t say “literature” or “the written word” – the correct description is literally books and libraries (that hold books). The focus is on Napoleon as a widely interested, voracious reader of books, and a hard-driving, OCD, insanely demanding possessor of books.

Bonaparte comes across in a fascinating but not fully realized portrait – we get a lot about him in small moments, like his heady student days as an aspiring author with ambitions to be a man of action and some illuminating and humorous anecdotes about his letter writing habits and his love-bombing tendencies. We come to understand that his reading interests throughout his life embraced poetry, romance, and the natural sciences, but first and foremost, always, history, politics, and biography, in that order. I would say the point is both over-made (frequently repeated) and under-made (not so convincingly argued) that books themselves helped to shape the Empire and Napoleon’s fortunes throughout his life.

Overall, Sarkozy mostly held my attention, but I would only recommend this to someone with a similarly ravenous diet for history as the diminutive conqueror who is covered by its 225 pages (about 100 too many).

[Relstuart · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating how dedicated to reading books Napolean was. It was one of the reasons for his initial success, something that helped him sustain success over the years, and was a comfort in his exile. This book does not attempt to tell the whole story of Napolean's life, but how his life was lived in reference to his love of books.

Napolean spent significant funds to build his library and libraries for the use of others. He read constantly and broadly, focused on history, travel, and military books. But he also enjoyed novels, plays, science, politics, and philosophy. Perhaps the most literary of world leaders in the last few hundred years. Make no mistake, more often than not, great leaders have been readers. But few to the extent of Napolean.

It's disappointing to hear this was an aspect of his story that was nowhere featured in the recent film biopic. It's concerning to think that an enormous number of people will have a false sense of who Napolean was based on a film that told his story so poorly.

[Shayan BaniAhmad · Rating 4 out of 5]

although quite enjoyable, the book must be judged as not a companion piece to a lengthy biography of N but as a standalone work dedicated to searching the emperor's library. in this task, the book succeeds to function as to answer the questions that a reader enthusiastic enough to search such book on N might have and to produce yet newer questions that yearn for answers to be searched for them. but the book lacks in one major field, that is the actual most far reaching work of Bonaparte, the Napoleonic code. the book lends too few pages to this monumental work and lends even less to the books and authors that influenced it's content and peculiarities. other than that if one wants to find N's sources for his ideas and inspirations concerning mostly his way of warfare and his approach to love, one can definitely do so here.

[Lyn O · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an incredible read! It felt like quite the journey to finish it, given the sheer level of detail! 😮‍💨 I am absolutely amazed by how vividly Louis brought the story to life. It was as if he had walked through history right by Napoleon’s side, witnessing every moment firsthand.

What struck me most was how much there is to learn from Napoleon and the books that influenced him. It is fascinating to see the profound impact certain works had on his thinking and how they ultimately shaped the man he became. This book also subtly, and perhaps unintentionally, explores the power of reading itself—how learning to read and absorb knowledge can transform a person’s life. Kudos to Louis for this masterpiece!

[Jérémy Brancart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting way to approche Napoléon’s Life.

[John DeGeorge · Rating 5 out of 5]

Traveling libraries are badass 📚