NAPOLEON: The Man Behind the Myth

Napoleon inspires passionately held and violently conflicting visions. Was he a god-like genius, Romantic avatar, megalomaniac monster or just a nasty little dictator?

He was none of these things. He was a man, and as Adam Zamoyski presents him in this landmark biography, in many ways a rather ordinary man at that. He possessed almost superhuman qualities and talents, but it is hard to credit genius to a general who presided over the worst (and self-inflicted) disaster in military history and who single-handedly destroyed the great enterprise of rebuilding a strong France which he and others had toiled so hard to achieve. A protean organiser and legislator whose charisma mobilised millions, he did leave an impressive array of laws and institutions which survive to this day, but perhaps his most persistent legacy is the self-serving legend he painstakingly crafted.

But he was no evil monster. He could be selfish and violent, but there is no evidence of him wishing to inflict suffering gratuitously. His motives were mostly praiseworthy and his ambition no greater than that of contemporaries such as Alexander I of Russia, Wellington, Nelson, Bernadotte and many more. What made his ambition exceptional was the scope it was accorded by circumstance.

Adam Zamoyski strips away the lacquer of prejudice, explodes accepted myths and debunks long-held assumptions to reveal a more human, more understandable and far more interesting Napoleon. He places him firmly within the context of his times, showing how in the 1790s, this provincial youth was propelled into a political scene racked by revolution and a world at war. His insecurities, social, physical and sexual – turned his struggle for survival into a self-perpetuating quest for acceptance through the pursuit of ever greater power, which led to his final defeat in 1815.

Based on primary sources in many European languages, and beautifully illustrated with portraits done only from life, this magnificent book examines how Napoleone Buonaparte, the boy from Corsica, became ‘Napoleon’; how he achieved what he did, and how it came about that he undid it. It does not justify or condemn but seeks instead to understand Napoleon’s extraordinary trajectory.

Extracts from reviews of NAPOLEON: The Man Behind the Myth

‘Napoleon is an out-and-out masterpiece and a joy to read.’

Antony Beevor

‘The emperor has had few biographers who address this shooting star with Zamoyski’s narrative power and nuanced judgment.’

Max Hastings, The Sunday Times

‘Zamoyski’s research is meticulous, his writing sublime.... This is probably one of the truest biographies of Napoleon.... this book undoubtedly needed to be written.’

Gerard DeGroot, The Times

‘The real value of this wonderful biography – elegantly written, exhaustively researched and compellingly argued – is the insight it gives us into Napoleon the Man.’

Saul David, The Daily Telegraph

‘The refreshing distinction of Zamoyski as a biographer is that he humanises Bonaparte…In portraying the person behind the many myths that have accrued around his name, Zamoyski acts as a skilful picture-restorer, scraping away layers of lies, exaggerations and misconceptions to reveal the man in his true, unvarnished colours.’

Nigel Jones, The Spectator

'Always elegant in style and original in analysis, Zamoyski, a master of the sources and the culture and politics that created his subject, produces a fresh, nuanced, beautifully written, gripping and outstanding biography of Napoleon…'

Simon Sebag-Montefiore

‘...magnificent’

The Economist

'A lifetime's diligent research and profound thinking about Napoleon and his times has gone into this hugely readable, highly enjoyable and well-balanced biography. Zamoyski is at the top of his game as a biographer.'

Andrew Roberts

'Adam Zamoyski has retold a story that we thought we knew and made it fresh. Stripping away two centuries of mythology, discarding the apocryphal stories and legends, he finally brings us the real Napoleon.'

Anne Applebaum

‘Zamoyski deserves praise for his selection of sources. Unlike some recent works that rely on the accounts of contemporaries who abhorred Napoleon, Napoleon: A Life incorporates the voices of those who were both for and against him, and, even more important, those who were observers and not politically polarized ... Although his book fills more than 700 pages, it moves quickly, and Zamoyski adeptly avoids getting bogged down in any specific topic ... one of the finest biographies of Napoleon Bonaparte ever written.’

Michael Leggiere

‘Engaging and highly readable ... What sets Mr. Zamoyski apart from countless other biographers is his ability to (1) provide context to the factors that made Napoleon a constant warrior and (2) to explore his restoration of order to post-revolutionary France ... An inclusive life of a historical dynamo.’

Joseph C Goulden, The Washington Times