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Napoleon in Power

Philip Dwyer

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The second volume of this authoritative biography of Napoleon, tracking his ruthless drive for absolute power from the post-coup years to exile on Elba

“A wonderful read that will offer fresh insights to even the most hardened Napoleonic veteran: I only wish that I had written this book.”—Charles Esdaile, author of Napoleon's Wars

In this second volume of Philip Dwyer’s biography on one of history’s most enthralling leaders, Napoleon, now 30, takes his position as head of the French state after the 1799 coup. Dwyer explores the young leader’s reign, complete with mistakes, wrong turns, and pitfalls, and reveals the great lengths to which Napoleon goes in the effort to fashion his image as legitimate and patriarchal ruler of the new nation. Concealing his defeats, exaggerating his victories, never hesitating to blame others for his own failings, Napoleon is ruthless in his ambition for power.
 
Following Napoleon from Paris to his successful campaigns in Italy and Austria, to the disastrous invasion of Russia, and finally to the war against the Sixth Coalition that would end his reign in Europe, the book looks not only at these events but at the character of the man behind them. Dwyer reveals Napoleon’s darker sides—his brooding obsessions and propensity for violence—as well as his passionate nature: his loves, his ability to inspire, and his capacity for realizing his visionary ideas. In an insightful analysis of Napoleon as one of the first truly modern politicians, the author discusses how the persuasive and forward-thinking leader skillfully fashioned the image of himself that persists in legends that surround him to this day.

Philip Dwyer is professor of history and director of the Centre for the History of Violence at the University of Newcastle, Australia.

“A wonderful read that will offer fresh insights to even the most hardened Napoleonic veteran: I only wish that I had written this book.”—Charles Esdaile, author of Napoleon's Wars: An International History, 1803-1815
“This is the book . . . stunning and memorable, reading like an insider’s account.”—Douglas Wilson, Books and Culture

“Clear-eyed . . . Dwyer makes Napoleon familiar to most of us by building his narrative around expertly sketched flaws and foibles.”—Denis Boyles, Claremont Review of Books
ISBN: 9780300212532
Publication Date: March 31, 2015
816 pages, 5 3/4 x 9
64 b/w illus., 5 maps

Sales Restrictions: For sale in the U. S. only
Napoleon

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Philip Dwyer

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