What do you think?
Rate this book
Napoleon #3
Napoleon: Passion, Death and Resurrection 1815-1840
The final volume of the critically acclaimed and groundbreaking trilogy chronicling the life of Napoleon Bonaparte, one of history's most complex and charismatic leaders
This meticulously researched study opens with Napoleon no longer in power, but instead a prisoner in a dressing-gown just off the English coast. This may have been a great fall from power, but Napoleon, international celebrity of his age, still held immense attraction and glamour. Every day, huge crowds would gather on the far shore in the hope of catching a glimpse of him. Exile on St Helena was decided upon by his captors as the only solution for containing the troublesome potential of this once most powerful of leaders.
Philip Dwyer closes his ambitious trilogy exploring Napoleon's life, legacy and myth by moving from those first months of imprisonment, through the years of exile, up to death and then beyond, examining how the foundations of legend that had been laid by Napoleon during his lifetime continued to be built upon by his followers.
Napoleon: The Passion, Death and Resurrection of Napoleon Bonaparte, 1815-1840 is a considered and illuminating exploration of one of the most charismatic and able leaders of history in the closing chapters of his life. It is a fitting and authoritative end to a definitive work.
This meticulously researched study opens with Napoleon no longer in power, but instead a prisoner in a dressing-gown just off the English coast. This may have been a great fall from power, but Napoleon, international celebrity of his age, still held immense attraction and glamour. Every day, huge crowds would gather on the far shore in the hope of catching a glimpse of him. Exile on St Helena was decided upon by his captors as the only solution for containing the troublesome potential of this once most powerful of leaders.
Philip Dwyer closes his ambitious trilogy exploring Napoleon's life, legacy and myth by moving from those first months of imprisonment, through the years of exile, up to death and then beyond, examining how the foundations of legend that had been laid by Napoleon during his lifetime continued to be built upon by his followers.
Napoleon: The Passion, Death and Resurrection of Napoleon Bonaparte, 1815-1840 is a considered and illuminating exploration of one of the most charismatic and able leaders of history in the closing chapters of his life. It is a fitting and authoritative end to a definitive work.
390 pages, Hardcover
First published April 19, 2018
6 people are currently reading
277 people want to read
About the author
Philip G. Dwyer
17 books16 followersPhilip Dwyer studied in Perth, Paris and Berlin before receiving his doctorate from the University of Western Australia. His first posting was as a Leverhulme Fellow at the University of Dundee. He has taught European History at the University of Newcastle since 1994. His primary research interest is eighteenth-century Europe with a particular emphasis on the Napoleonic Empire. Volume one of his study on Napoleon won the National Biography Award in 2008. The second volume published in 2013 was short-listed for a number of prizes. The third and final volume of Napoleon is due out in 2017. He is currently working on a global history of violence. Philip is founding Director of the Centre for the History of Violence.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
November 27, 2018
A beautiful account of Napoleon's last year's, brilliantly researched and written by one of the world's top Napoleonic historians. Highly recommended to anyone with an interest in this period in history.
June 5, 2018
I was a little surprised that the previous volume of this work ended before the famed St. Helena period, birthplace of the napoleonic legend. It could be that, as a necessary conclusion to the tone of the mentioned work, the author was just happy to see the subject of the narrative dead and dealt away with.
So, it was with great joy and anticipation that news were received of a third and final installment, one that deals with the final years and legend of Napoleon Bonaparte.
This is a most fitting end to this three volume biography, which mostly deals with the myth and work Napoleon and his supporters went through to guarantee that it would be passed on for years to come.
The tone and narrative of the present volume is quite the opposite of the previous one, and does more to deconstruct, and debunk, the saint-like image and qualities of Napoleon as an exiled and victim to the English after his defeat at the hands of the seventh coalition in 1815.
The author goes to great length to present the facts as much as possible, offering good and useful insight whenever possible, and to aid and enrich the narrative.
This book is such a joy to read, and although a point can be made for its short length, it covers and explores the main and controversial points of the latter years of the fallen emperor.
The tour de force must be the sections dedicated to the creation of the myth and the main elements that led to Napoleon, still today, being a major character of interest.
One can choose from martyr and exiled living under sub-human conditions, to savior and a Christ-like figure that possessed superhuman abilities and a godly aura, leading to the conservation of his body, that came as a surprise upon the opening of the tomb in St. Helena in 1840.
All of these interpretations arrive, or derive, from the legend in which Napoleon is enshrouded.
This reader, having already gone through several works about Napoleon, is always happy to have a work that takes its time to analyze and comment, event to interpret, the man and the circumstances of his actions and how they led to the love/hate relationship with the country and people that he ruled for more than 10 years, and the effects we still see today.
The collect work on Napoleon is one of the most impressive and detailed ones we can come across these days and one that I would very much recommend as an advanced read for anyone interested.
The third volume goes more in detail about the myth and legends and how Napoleon's image has been affected, either negatively or positively.
An entire new perspective can be achieved when considering all aspects that make a "great man" journey, specially the advantages that third-parties aim to get from it.
Sometimes the end result is already far from the thuth.
So, it was with great joy and anticipation that news were received of a third and final installment, one that deals with the final years and legend of Napoleon Bonaparte.
This is a most fitting end to this three volume biography, which mostly deals with the myth and work Napoleon and his supporters went through to guarantee that it would be passed on for years to come.
The tone and narrative of the present volume is quite the opposite of the previous one, and does more to deconstruct, and debunk, the saint-like image and qualities of Napoleon as an exiled and victim to the English after his defeat at the hands of the seventh coalition in 1815.
The author goes to great length to present the facts as much as possible, offering good and useful insight whenever possible, and to aid and enrich the narrative.
This book is such a joy to read, and although a point can be made for its short length, it covers and explores the main and controversial points of the latter years of the fallen emperor.
The tour de force must be the sections dedicated to the creation of the myth and the main elements that led to Napoleon, still today, being a major character of interest.
One can choose from martyr and exiled living under sub-human conditions, to savior and a Christ-like figure that possessed superhuman abilities and a godly aura, leading to the conservation of his body, that came as a surprise upon the opening of the tomb in St. Helena in 1840.
All of these interpretations arrive, or derive, from the legend in which Napoleon is enshrouded.
This reader, having already gone through several works about Napoleon, is always happy to have a work that takes its time to analyze and comment, event to interpret, the man and the circumstances of his actions and how they led to the love/hate relationship with the country and people that he ruled for more than 10 years, and the effects we still see today.
The collect work on Napoleon is one of the most impressive and detailed ones we can come across these days and one that I would very much recommend as an advanced read for anyone interested.
The third volume goes more in detail about the myth and legends and how Napoleon's image has been affected, either negatively or positively.
An entire new perspective can be achieved when considering all aspects that make a "great man" journey, specially the advantages that third-parties aim to get from it.
Sometimes the end result is already far from the thuth.
May 17, 2018
Once again Philip Dwyer proves his ability to write!
His final entry into the Napoleon trilogy is fantastic, it is easy to read and the story flies right by. I really appreciated how he left the final book entirely to his time on St. Helena and his travels on the Bellerephon and Northumberland, getting there. The last hundred pages or so deals with Napoleon posthumously and how his story had changed overtime due to what history calls the "Four Evangelists" (essentially the men who oversaw his memoires while they remained on st. helena with him for at least a time).
It was quite entertaining to see how Napoleon interacted with the British while he was at Longwood during his stay, he did not get along with the Governor Hudson Lowe who was in charge of keeping an eye on him and he would go out of his way to make Lowe's job difficult often hiding and playing a kind of cat and mouse with him hiding in Longwood and cutting holes in the shutters or curtains and using a monocular to peer outside - I thought it was funny. But it was also interesting to see how the doctors who he came into contact with him reacted to his state of health such as Irishmen O'meara who confirmed very early on that Napoleon indeed had chronic hepatitis. When Lowe was informed, he denied it, believing that Napoleon was just acting or trying to trick Lowe and sent O'Meara packing, this pattern would repeat itself over and over and eventually doctors would just begin to lie about Napoleons state of health to keep Lowe happy. I guess Lowe did not want the British thinking his health was failing and he was doing a poor job as Governor
The book also debunks alot of the myths about his death, as many believed that he had died as a result of poisoning, because how else could you explain the greatest man of the age dying so young? The only reason it was believed to have been the case was because arsenic had been found during his autopsy in strands of his hair, but this could be explained away by the fact that arsenic could be found in many products that were used during the day so it was not uncommon. In the end, Napoleon was likely beginning his chronic hepatitis during what is known as "the hundred days" after he came back from Elba and the climate on St. Helena simply exacerbated it.
It was also quite interesting to see just how people in France reacted to his death, records show that people did not show their emotion or seem upset in France, but this is contrary to the reality. During the reign of Louis XVIII, any kind of demonstration or mention of Napoleon could result in a hefty fine or imprisonment and he the Bourbon regime was trying to erase Napoleons memory so if people wished to mourn they would have to do so privately in their houses.
All in all the book was quite good and an extremely enjoyable read, will definitely be keeping an eye on Dwyer for more material to come in the future.
His final entry into the Napoleon trilogy is fantastic, it is easy to read and the story flies right by. I really appreciated how he left the final book entirely to his time on St. Helena and his travels on the Bellerephon and Northumberland, getting there. The last hundred pages or so deals with Napoleon posthumously and how his story had changed overtime due to what history calls the "Four Evangelists" (essentially the men who oversaw his memoires while they remained on st. helena with him for at least a time).
It was quite entertaining to see how Napoleon interacted with the British while he was at Longwood during his stay, he did not get along with the Governor Hudson Lowe who was in charge of keeping an eye on him and he would go out of his way to make Lowe's job difficult often hiding and playing a kind of cat and mouse with him hiding in Longwood and cutting holes in the shutters or curtains and using a monocular to peer outside - I thought it was funny. But it was also interesting to see how the doctors who he came into contact with him reacted to his state of health such as Irishmen O'meara who confirmed very early on that Napoleon indeed had chronic hepatitis. When Lowe was informed, he denied it, believing that Napoleon was just acting or trying to trick Lowe and sent O'Meara packing, this pattern would repeat itself over and over and eventually doctors would just begin to lie about Napoleons state of health to keep Lowe happy. I guess Lowe did not want the British thinking his health was failing and he was doing a poor job as Governor
The book also debunks alot of the myths about his death, as many believed that he had died as a result of poisoning, because how else could you explain the greatest man of the age dying so young? The only reason it was believed to have been the case was because arsenic had been found during his autopsy in strands of his hair, but this could be explained away by the fact that arsenic could be found in many products that were used during the day so it was not uncommon. In the end, Napoleon was likely beginning his chronic hepatitis during what is known as "the hundred days" after he came back from Elba and the climate on St. Helena simply exacerbated it.
It was also quite interesting to see just how people in France reacted to his death, records show that people did not show their emotion or seem upset in France, but this is contrary to the reality. During the reign of Louis XVIII, any kind of demonstration or mention of Napoleon could result in a hefty fine or imprisonment and he the Bourbon regime was trying to erase Napoleons memory so if people wished to mourn they would have to do so privately in their houses.
All in all the book was quite good and an extremely enjoyable read, will definitely be keeping an eye on Dwyer for more material to come in the future.
March 10, 2020
The epilogue of Napoleon’s most momentous life: his final exile and death in St. Helena, and then his surprising afterlife as time and Napoleon’s own efforts made the man once seen as a tyrant and conquered appear more of a liberal man of the people.
Dwyer tells of Napoleon’s exile, death and popular resurrection in a book that seemed shorter than I expected. There’s not actually that much plot here, and the personages are mostly third-tier nonentities compared to the Wellingtons and Talleyrands, tears and kings, Josephines and Hortenses with whom Napoleon interacted during his heyday. But Dwyer is an engaging writer who keeps readers engaged with — or perhaps despite — a very tight focus. I might have appreciated a deeper discussion of Napoleon’s memoirs and how they rewrote the public story of Napoleon’s life, but we largely don’t get details.
Still, this is an essential final chapter to understand the life of the most consequential man of his age.
Dwyer tells of Napoleon’s exile, death and popular resurrection in a book that seemed shorter than I expected. There’s not actually that much plot here, and the personages are mostly third-tier nonentities compared to the Wellingtons and Talleyrands, tears and kings, Josephines and Hortenses with whom Napoleon interacted during his heyday. But Dwyer is an engaging writer who keeps readers engaged with — or perhaps despite — a very tight focus. I might have appreciated a deeper discussion of Napoleon’s memoirs and how they rewrote the public story of Napoleon’s life, but we largely don’t get details.
Still, this is an essential final chapter to understand the life of the most consequential man of his age.
September 27, 2025
Very impressed with this book.
I have bought this book during my visit to Waterloo earlier this year. That was the place of Napoleon his last battle but truly it isn’t. The real last battle of Napoleon was his work to make himself a martyr on Saint Helena (where he was exiled).
A detailed account on his years on Saint Helena followed by his slowly declining health to his death and funeral procession on the island itself to his return to France 20 years or so later.
Would definitely recommend this book.
I have bought this book during my visit to Waterloo earlier this year. That was the place of Napoleon his last battle but truly it isn’t. The real last battle of Napoleon was his work to make himself a martyr on Saint Helena (where he was exiled).
A detailed account on his years on Saint Helena followed by his slowly declining health to his death and funeral procession on the island itself to his return to France 20 years or so later.
Would definitely recommend this book.
September 8, 2022
Enough books to fill many libraries have been written about Napoleon but this one attacks the subject through a very different perspective, namely his death, his eventual return to France and the politics of his reputation resurrection. Well researched and not overly dense written makes this a useful addition to any Francophone’s library
May 22, 2018
Could’ve and should’ve been longer. Other than that it was a delight.
January 24, 2021
pretty boring, but then his life probably was towards the end
October 9, 2021
Decent end to the trilogy
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews