Volume 13, Number 11 · December 18, 1969
The Emperor Industry
By A.J.P. Taylor
Napoleon, I. From 18 Brumaire to Tilsit 1799-1807
by Georges Lefebvre, translated by Henry F. Stockhold
Columbia, Vol. I, 337 pp., $7.50
Napoleon, II. From Tilsit to Waterloo 1807-1815
by Georges Lefebvre, translated by J.E. Anderson
Columbia, Vol. II, 414 pp., $7.50
Napoleon in Russia The 1812 Campaign
by Alan Palmer
Simon and Shuster, 320 pp., $7.50
Napoleon Recaptures Paris
by Claude Manceron, translated by George Unwin
Norton, 307 pp., $6.95
Napoleon after Waterloo
by Michael John Thornton
Stanford, 250 pp., $6.95
Napoleon's St. Helena
by Gilbert Martineau, translated by Frances Partridge
Rand McNally, 304 pp., $6.95
There are more books about Napoleon than about any other human being (a phrase carefully chosen in order to rule out Jesus Christ). More than 100,000 titles appeared by the end of the nineteenth century, and no one has made the count of those which have appeared since. Probably the total has by now reached a quarter of a million, and more are added every year. It is odd enough that readers should want to go on reading such books. It is even odder that writers should want to go on writing them. Can there really be anything fresh to be said on the subject, any new gold to be found in this well-dug field? It seems so. Napoleon not only remains a profitable market. He actually provides pleasure for those who write about him. It is very rare to pick up a book about Napoleon which has the air of being a hack job. Nearly every author seems to be in the game for the love of the thing.
Review, 2851 words
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