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A New York Times Notable Book
An Economist Book of Year
Winner of the Grand Prix of the Fondation Napoleón
Chosen as a book of the year by Antony Beevor,
Simon Sebag Montefiore, Ben MacIntyre, Philip Ziegler,
Nicholas Shakespeare, and many others
Amazon's 100 Biographies and Memoirs to Read in a Lifetime
“Napoleon may be the most written-about human being in history, but perhaps none has taken to the task with greater zeal than Andrew Roberts, whose admiration for his subject infuses and enlivens this brilliant new biography... Roberts is an uncommonly gifted writer, capable of synthesizing vast amounts of material and rendering it in clear, elegant prose. The result is a thrilling tale of military and political genius, and easily the finest one-volume biography of Napoleon in English.”
— The Washington Post
“An epically scaled new biograph... Roberts brilliantly conveys the sheer energy and presence of Napoleon, the organizational and military whirlwind who, through crisp and incessant questioning, sized up people and problems and got things done... His dynamism shines in Roberts's set-piece chapters on major battles like Austerlitz, Jena, and Marengo, turning visionary military maneuvers into politically potent moments.”
—The New York Times Book Review
“Is another long life of Napoleon really necessary? On three counts, the answer given by Andrew Roberts's impressive book is an emphatic yes. The most important is that this is the first single-volume general biography to make full use of the treasure trove of Napoleon's 33,000-odd letters, which began being published in Paris only in 2004. Second, Roberts, who has previously written on Napoleon and Wellington, is a masterly analyst of the French emperor's many battles. Third, his book is beautifully written and a pleasure to read.”
— The Economist
“With his customary flair and keen historical eye, Andrew Roberts has delivered the goods again. This is the best single-volume biography of Napoleon in English for the last four decades. A tour de force that belongs on every history lover's bookshelf!”
—Jay Winik, bestselling author of April 1865
“This book is simply spectacular. Roberts writes beautifully and, aided by meticulous historical research, brings Napoleon alive before the reader, with grapeshot and cannon fire splattering across the page.”
— The Seattle Times
“An intricate and sweeping narrative, which draws on a new edition of more than thirty thousand of Napoleon's letter... Roberts succeeds in joining intimate and military affairs.”
— The New Yorker
“Andrew Roberts's superb biography of Napoleon is a page-turner that happens also to be a work of original scholarship, an intimate portrait of a misunderstood, extraordinary man, and a gripping story of adventure that has important things to say about generalship, politics, manners, culture, and statesmanship. I picked it up and simply couldn't put it down. Even after 976 pages, I was sorry for it to end.”
—Bret Stephens, 2013 Pulitzer Prize winner for commentary
“Roberts in his Napoleon achieves the near impossible by writing on this extravagantly well-covered subject with a freshness and excitement that makes readers think they have stumbled on something entirely new.”
—Philip Ziegler, The Spectator (London), Books of the Year
“A new, definitive biography of the man who shaped the world.”
— The Kansas City Star , Best Books of 2014
“A huge, rich, deep, witty, humane, and unapologetically admiring biography of 976 pages, each of them a pleasure to read. The Napoleon painted here is a whirlwind of a man—not only a vigorous and supremely confident commander, but an astonishingly busy governor, correspondent and lover, too... To dive into Roberts's new book is to understand—indeed, to feel—why this peculiarly brilliant Corsican managed for so long to dazzle the world... Roberts's book is not just another brilliant narrative biography of Napoleon—although it is certainly this. It is also an essay on statesmanship and a meditation on history itself.”
—Dan Jones, The Telegraph (UK)
“For those with an abiding interest in Napoleon, and that era in history, and history itself, this is a book to savor and luxuriate in, a book you won't want to put down.”
— The Dallas Morning News
“Andrew Roberts reconstructs Napoleon's maneuvers in battle, and in bed, in superbly dramatic detail.”
— The Weekly Standard
“Napoleon remade France and much of Europe in his fifteen years in power and proved himself one of history's greatest military commanders. Roberts's access to Napoleon's thirty-three thousand letters, only recently available, allowed him to create a fully human portrait of this larger-than-life figure.”
— The Wall Street Journal
“Roberts's defense of Napoleon carries shock value that makes this well-researched and engagingly written biography edgy and provocative... Napoleon is the product of first-rate scholarship... The joy of reading this book comes not from necessarily agreeing with Andrew Roberts's ultimate judgments, but in joining him on a fascinating journey of wit, prodigious research, and historical detective work.”
—Victor Davis Hanson, The Times Literary Supplement (London)
“Entertaining, even addictiv... Roberts writes with great vigor, style, and fluency... He whisks the reader along so briskly that you barely question Napoleon's destiny.”
—The Sunday Times (London)
“Andrew Roberts has written his greatest book to date... His Napoleon is a monument of research and organization, adheres to the author's well-established high-stylistic standard, and reaches a new summit of thoroughness and balance in his treatment of probably the most gigantic personality in the history of the world... Every significant or interesting aspect of Napoleon's life is dealt with: the general, the administrator and reformer, the law-giver, the academician and intellectual, the promoter of science, the ardent womanizer and lover, the public relations genius, the politician, and the creator of an immense mystique whose power has survived the two centuries following his death.”
—Conrad Black, The New Criterion
“Marvelously readable and sumptuously illustrate... Roberts has been indefatigable in tracking down memorabilia and visiting the sites of battles, palaces, and places of exile. This is all richly depicted and woven into a narrative that is told with the aplomb of an accomplished historical storyteller... For a fast-paced and comprehensive narrative, told with affection and sympathy, many readers will want to turn to Napoleon . It is a book that sets out for a new generation exactly why he mattered and will continue to matter.”
—Mark Mazower, The Guardian
“ Napoleon is the most well-rounded and nuanced biography of this astonishing man to be had. And at 976 pages, it is not a comma too long.”
— Commentary
“Roberts brings Bonaparte brilliantly to life as a military leader and public administrator of immense skill, energy, and resourcefulness who took control of France through a military coup ‘only six years after entering the country as a virtually penniless political refugee.’As a portrait of the man and his times, it is superb.”
— New Statesman (London)
“Andrew Roberts's impressive Napoleon stands as a laudatory obelisk to the unknown moody soldier with a craving for suicide who ended the French Revolution, gave France a new constitution, and was crowned emperor. His Napoleon is a protean, sympathetic figure, considerate of his me... and obsessively well read.”
—Nicholas Shakespeare, Daily Telegraph (UK), Best Biogaphies of 2014
“Andrew Roberts's highly entertaining and provocative Napoleon does not disappoint with its glorious descriptions and sweeping judgments.”
—Antony Beevor, The Mail on Sunday (UK), Books of the Year
“No one writes narrative history as well as Andrew Roberts, and in Napoleon he has found his ideal subject.”
—Michael Gove, The Mail on Sunday (UK), Books of the Year
“A compelling biography of the preeminent French general that stands apart from the rest, owing to the author's thoroughness, accuracy, and attention to detail. Roberts relies on his military expertise, Napoleon's surviving correspondence (33,000 items in all), and exhaustive on-site studies of French battlegrounds... This voluminous work is likely to set the standard for subsequent accounts of Napoleon's life. It should appeal widely to readers of all types.”
— Library Journal (starred review)
“A definitive account that dispels many of the myths that surrounded Napoleon from his lifetime to the present day.”
— Publishers Weekly
“Truly a Napoleonic triumph of a book, elegantly written, epic in scale, novelistic in detail, irresistibly galloping with the momentum of a cavalry charge, as comfortable on the battlefield as in the bedroom. Here, at last, is the full biography.”
—Simon Sebag Montefiore, Evening Standard , Books of the Year
“Simply dynamit... Roberts's fine book encompasses all the evidence to give a brilliant portrait of the man. The book, as it needs to be, is massive, yet the pace is brisk and it's never overwhelmed by the scholarly research, which was plainly immense... He suggests looking at Europe for the emperor's monument, but this magnificent biography is not a bad place to start.”
—Bernard Cornwell, The Mail on Sunday (UK)