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  • Napoleon

  • A Life
  • Written by: Adam Zamoyski
  • Narrated by: Leighton Pugh
  • Length: 27 hrs and 10 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (87 ratings)

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Napoleon

Written by: Adam Zamoyski
Narrated by: Leighton Pugh
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Publisher's Summary

The definitive biography of Napoleon, revealing the true man behind the legend.

"What a novel my life has been!" Napoleon once said of himself. Born into a poor family, the callow young man was, by 26, an army general. Seduced by an older woman, his marriage transformed him into a galvanizing military commander. The pope crowned him as emperor of the French when he was only 35. Within a few years, he became the effective master of Europe, his power unparalleled in modern history. His downfall was no less dramatic.

The story of Napoleon has been written many times. In some versions, he is a military genius, in others a war-obsessed tyrant. Here, historian Adam Zamoyski cuts through the mythology and explains Napoleon against the background of the European Enlightenment and what he was himself seeking to achieve. This most famous of men is also the most hidden of men, and Zamoyski dives deeper than any previous biographer to find him. Beautifully written, Napoleon brilliantly sets the man in his European context.

©2018 Adam Zamoyski (P)2018 Hachette Audio

What the critics say

"Napoleon is an out and out masterpiece and a joy to read." (Sir Antony Beevor, author of Stalingrad: The Fateful Siege)

"A biography of Napoleon Bonaparte that avoids the well-established military details and gives us the story of a singular man...Illuminating." (Kirkus)

"Zamoyski tells the personal side of Napoleon's life...his hopes, his dreams, his self-doubts." (New York Journal of Books)

What listeners say about Napoleon

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Great narration. Historically biased writing.

My main problem with this book is that the author goes beyond the facts and inserts his own narrative.

It's fine to point out when Napoleon said something that the facts don't support. It's also fair to draw comparisons of alleged war crimes with actions taken by other countries commonly at the time.

What's not fine as an historian is to insert your own moral judgements into the text. Let the reader conclude from the data what to believe about Napoleon. Don't outright tell the reader that what he did was good, or what he did was bad. It's also not fine to put yourself into Napoleon's mind and assert his motives throughout his life. Stick to the facts as we know them, outlining how we've come to know them, but stop there.

No complaints about the audio work. It's top notch.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Napoleon: A Life

Wonderfully written, superbly read, a story of a great, intelligent man, whose leadership advanced the world - someone who will be studied for eons to come. One of worlds greatest men ever to have graced our planet.
I highly recommend this book and everything about it! Thank you Adam Zamoyski

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Fantastic!

Informative and interesting! Could not put it down, had to find excuses to keep listening. Highly recommend.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Fantastic

By showing the real man, flaws and all, the Author makes Napoleon all the more compelling and in a strange way relatable. A master piece in the field of Narrative History and Biography! Highly recommended!

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Entertaining & Informative

A tragic and triumphant figure in relatively recent history.
A fascinating discovery for the reader / listener of Bonaparte’s long lasting impactful and often beneficial consequences for western society through funding cultural and social institutions never implemented on such a scale.
The vacuum of power in the post revolutionary France and Europe allowed a most unlikely common man to gain at least for a time unbridled power. The scale and frequency of which he initiated war on much of the whole
world is terrifying.

The awareness that Napoleon thrived only a brief two hundred years ago brings to life how recent his actions molded much of current political European landscape.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
  • A
  • 2022-03-22

a solid book

this is the first book I have read solely on Napoleon. it's a good account that is also narrated well. a few points I will make:
-the different names of people are really hard to keep track of
- the author doesn't, in my mind, treat Napoleon unfairly, but doesn't make a hero out of him
-the battle recounting is short as opposed to some of the policital back and forth which is a bit long-winded

Overall I would recommend if you are looking for a good account of who Napoleon was as a person and not so much a focus on legendary battles.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
  • Joe
  • 2019-09-26

Excellently put together and performed biography

I just loved this story, I knew very little about napolen and now am a big fan of his story it is captivating and fascinating to imagine that his novel like life actually happened. An amazing tidvut of history that people should spend the time to learn. Sure the narrator could have better French or Italian pronunciation but thags not a real downfall.

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