Resolute Determination: Napoleon and the French Empire

by Donald M.G. Sutherland

In these lectures, Professor Donald M.G. Sutherland explores the life and times of Napoleon, one of history's most brilliant strategic thinkers. But despite his inarguable brilliance, Napoleon has also been denounced as unscrupulously ambitious and as alone responsible for the wars that bear his name. With his scholarly eye, Professor Sutherland imparts a fuller understanding of this polarizing figure and deftly shows how Napoleon fit into the sweep of history-and how he helped to define it.

Genres: History, Biography, Audiobook, Nonfiction

Audio CD

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Professor Sutherland's first monograph, The Chouans: The Social Origins of Popular Counterrevolution in Upper Brittany, 1770-96 (1982), earned Honorable Mention in the Wallace K. Ferguson Prize competition of 1981-82 awarded by the Canadian Historical Association. It has been translated into French. His second monograph, France, 1789-1815: Revolution and Counterrevolution, vol. 1 of Douglas Johnson (ed.) The Fontana History of Modern France (1985) has been translated into French, Dutch, and Italian. A new version appeared in 2003. Professor Sutherland has also published twenty-seven articles, two of which won the Koren prize (1975, 1985), awarded by the Society for French Historical Studies for the best article in French history by an American or Canadian. He has given papers to scholarly conferences around the world, has been an editor of French Historical Studies, reviews manuscripts and books for leading journals and scholarly presses, and has made a number of TV and radio appearances where he was interviewed about his work. In 2002, the French government made him a Chevalier des palmes académiques for his contributions to French culture. He has also received awards from the National Council of Jewish Women, the Canada Council, the SSHRC, and the General Research Board, and the Guggenheim Foundation. He has just completed a manuscript entitled Lynching, Law, and Justice: Murder in Aubagne. Finally, Historical Refelctions/Réflexions historiques (2003) published the papers of a major conference he organized on violence and the French Revolution at College Park in October 2001.

Reviews

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seems like most reviewers weren't crazy about these lectures, but I loved them. Sutherland is sometimes hard to follow, but most of that is due to the amount of material he tries to cover. The story was fascinating and told well enough to be enjoyable. I like that he didn't hedge on how he saw things. He gave the appropriate disclaimers "this is debatable" but then indicates the conclusions of his findings. I wish he could have gone in to more detail. It was a very cursory view of the French Revolution and Empire.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love how straightforward these lectures were without being boring and dusty!

[Allan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A significant period in the history of France and of Europe distilled nicely into fourteen lectures. Sutherland has an easy familiarity with the material, and presents a coherent survey of a turbulent period by focusing not on the personality of Napoleon, but on the currents of his time: how he responded to and affected them. Sutherland's listeners will come away feeling they have a clearer understanding of the Napoleonic Era.

[Zach · Rating 4 out of 5]

This and it's sister-course "The Price of Liberty" by the same professor, make excellent companions to the Great Courses' "Living the French Revolution and the age of Napoleon". Combined, the first two cover approximately the same time span as living the French revolution, but differ in what they focus on. Living the French revolution, for example, covered the internal strife within France itself in greater detail, and the two modern scholar courses didn't discuss the revolution's impact on the overseas French empire at all. Overall though, I enjoyed both sets of courses and I highly recommend them both (although I'd recommend the Great Courses first).

The subject matter itself is vital to understanding how modern Europe came to be. The French Revolution (and to a somewhat lesser extant the American Revolution), arguably paved the way for the European-wide revolutions of 1848, while the Napoleonic empire laid the foundation for the political climate of Europe up until WWI. Fascinating stuff!

[Aimee · Rating 3 out of 5]

A thorough account of the early life, rise to power, reign and eventual downfall of this astonishing/remarkable/egomaniacle historical figure.

[Dariggle · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Napoleonic Wars explained.

[Jane · Rating 2 out of 5]

Excellent information marred by poor delivery. Words are swallowed and mispronounced. The author may have excellent credits as an historian but his lecture skills are severely lacking.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well thought out and presented view of Napoleon.