Life of Napoleon Buonaparte

Six years after the death of Napoleon, Sir Walter Scott wrote the first, hugely successful biography of Napoleon that riveted Britain and the continent and led to him being challenged to a duel by former Napoleon generals. It was probably the first book ever to be extracted in a newspaper. Scott's bracing but fair portrait of his contemporary inspired a new wave of historians to engage with history in a way that we now recognise as modern. Originally a sprawling work of over 1 million words, Dr Michaelis has edited the original text down to create a fresh, succinct contemporary portrait that will rivet the modern enthusiast and scholar. Based on Scott's tour of European battle sites and access to secret Foreign Office records, his is also a lost, pre-nation state snapshot of a Europe that was still a patchwork of different local cultures, cities and regions and sensitivities.