Napoleon
Written by Paul Johnson
Narrated by John Lee
4/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this audiobook
From New York Times bestselling author Paul Johnson, "a very readable and entertaining biography" (The Washington Post) about one of the most important figures in modern European history: Napoleon Bonaparte
In an ideal pairing of author and subject, the magisterial historian Paul Johnson offers a vivid look at the life of the strategist, general, and dictator who conquered much of Europe. Following Napoleon from the barren island of Corsica to his early training in Paris, from his meteoric victories and military dictatorship to his exile and death, Johnson examines the origins of his ferocious ambition. In Napoleon's quest for power, Johnson sees a realist unfettered by patriotism or ideology. And he recognizes Bonaparte's violent legacy in the totalitarian regimes of the twentieth century. Napoleon is a magnificent work that bears witness to one individual's ability to work his will on history.
Paul Johnson
Paul Johnson is a historian whose work ranges over the millennia and the whole gamut of human activities. He regularly writes book reviews for several UK magazines and newspapers, such as the Literary Review and The Spectator, and he lectures around the world. He lives in London, England.
More audiobooks from Paul Johnson
Stalin: The Kremlin Mountaineer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Socrates: A Man for Our Times Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Churchill Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mozart: A Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Darwin: Portrait of a Genius Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Eisenhower: A Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related to Napoleon
Related audiobooks
Napoleon Bonaparte: His Life, Death, and Revolutionary Wars Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Napoleon: A Concise Biography Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Napoleon – In a Nutshell Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5March 1917: On the Brink of War and Revolution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Morgan: American Financier Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Life of Napoleon volume 1 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Napoleon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Napoleon Bonaparte His History Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAnd the Show Went On: Cultural Life in Nazi-Occupied Paris Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Moscow 1812: Napoleon's Fatal March Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Illiberal Europe: Eastern Europe from the Fall of the Berlin Wall to the War in Ukraine Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLeft Bank: Art, Passion, and the Rebirth of Paris, 1940-50 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTo Hell and Back: Europe 1914-1949 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/51946: The Making of the Modern World Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Unification of Italy: The History of the Risorgimento and the Conflicts that Unified the Italian Nation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The French Revolution and Napoleon Bonaparte: A Comprehensive History Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5War and Peace, Book 17: Second Epilogue Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Birth of the Republic, 1763-89: Fourth Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Joan: The Mysterious Life of the Heretic Who Became a Saint Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/51848: Year of Revolution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Stories Old Towns Tell: A Journey Through Cities at the Heart of Europe Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe French Revolution - Thomas Carlyle Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Life of Napoleon volume 4 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Possessed Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Émile Zola: A Very Short Introduction Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Moment of Liberation in Western Europe: Power Struggles and Rebellions, 1943-1948 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHannibal Barca, The Greatest General: The Meteoric Rise, Defeat, and Destruction of Rome's Fiercest Rival Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Historical Biographies For You
Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Book of Charlie Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel: Genius, Power, and Deception on the Eve of World War I Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Devil and Harper Lee Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Up From Slavery Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Shakespeare Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lincoln Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Moveable Feast: The Restored Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lives of the Wives: Five Literary Marriages Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Diary of Anne Frank Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Benjamin Franklin: Autobiography Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rebel Yell: The Violence, Passion and Redemption of Stonewall Jackson Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Greatest Beer Run Ever: A Memoir of Friendship, Loyalty, and War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Benjamin Franklin Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Nine Years Among the Indians, 1870-1879: The Story of the Captivity and Life of a Texan Among the Indians Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Mobituaries: Great Lives Worth Reliving Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Professor and The Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Midwife's Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Eliza Hamilton: The Extraordinary Life and Times of the Wife of Alexander Hamilton Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Anne Frank Remembered: The Story of the Woman Who Helped to Hide the Frank Family Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes: Cultural Studies in the Gospels Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Benjamin Franklin: An American Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The House of Medici: Its Rise and Fall Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Be Free or Die: The Amazing Story of Robert Smalls' Escape from Slavery to Union Hero Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Napoleon
59 ratings3 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Paul Johnson’s “Napoleon” a Penguin Life is an excellent extended treatise of the life, career and ramifications of Napoleon Bonaparte. Mr. Johnson does a truly superb job of not only describing Bonaparte’s roots, upbringing and idiosyncrasies but also his effect on the lives of those soldiers on the field during the Napoleonic Wars and the lives of soldiers and citizens in the late 19th century and beyond. Mr. Johnson explains rather succinctly how Bonaparte was the model for many of the state despots that were to turn their ugly heads in the 20th century, how they took the blueprint Bonaparte set down and ran with it. What I would have enjoyed were some pictures of many of the artistic Napoleonic inspired items Mr. Johnson speaks of but here I am simply splitting hairs.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I've loved the concept of this Penguin Lives series (now ongoing with a different publisher) since it started -- match excellent writers with worthy subjects, and keep it relatively short. It's a nice way to read a biography without investing the kind of time a lot of giant tomes require. I'd been reading a lot of novels set in Napoleonic times recently and wanted to learn more about the man behind such conflict. I had a little trouble getting into this book at first -- perhaps because it is so short, it seemed Johnson was summing things up with a very broad brush. But I rated it four stars because of a section near the end where he explains the unintended consequences of Napoleon's actions as well as the cause of his ultimate defeat -- the forging of different ethnic groups into nations (especially Germany) and the awakening cultural cohesion of the north (Germany again). It's definitely worth reading, especially if you've been reading Patrick O'Brian and the like and are curious about the man that so many spent so long trying to vanquish.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Broad picture of a maniac. Seemed to presume a fair amount of foreknowledge. Loved the final sentence. "We have to learn again the central lesson of history: that all forms of greatness, military and administrative, nation and empire building, are as nothing--indeed are perilous in the extreme--without a humble and contrite heart."