Napoleon Bonaparte's character and achievements have always divided critics and commentators. In this compelling biography, Frank McLynn draws on the most recent scholarship and throws a brilliant light on this most paradoxical of men--as military leader, lover, and emperor. Tracing Napoleon's extraordinary career, McLynn examines the Promethean legend from his Corsican roots, through the years of the French Revolution and his military triumphs, to his coronation in 1804 and ultimate defeat and imprisonment. McLynn brilliantly reveals the extent to which Napoleon was both existential hero and plaything of Fate; mathematician and mystic; intellectual giant and moral pygmy; great man and deeply flawed human being.-This massive biography not only sets forth Napoleon's deeds and acts but explores the motivations behind them. Readers always want to understand what makes great historical figures tick.-Impeccably researched and clearly written for the general public.-Gives the reader an eagle's-eye view of European history during the 40-year period of Napoleon's reign.- Hardcover ISBN: 1559706317

Frank McLynn was educated at Oxford and the University of London. A full-time writer, he won the 1985 Cheltenham Prize for Literature for The Jacobite Army in England, and is the author of a number of acclaimed biographies. He is currently visiting professor in the Department of Literature at Strathclyde University in England