Napoleon

This series looks at key historical figures and their reputations and tries to discover the reality behind them. It uses both primary and secondary sources and is intended for the 14-17 year old reader and to be used as a basis for GCSE project work and as background reading to class work. The marginal notes and questions running parallel with the text provide useful information to help the reader evaluate and interpret the evidence. Visual evidence in the form of photographs, paintings and cartoons is also included. Napoleon Bonaparte was a man who was viewed in widely different ways even in his own lifetime - as "Corsican ogre" or genius of war, as tyrant or liberator. This work examines some of the controversies surrounding the life of Napoleon by the use of quotations from his own words and his contemporaries, to establish whether the assessments of him are justified. It tries to discover what sort of man he was, whether he "saved" France or committed her to unnecessary wars, how his victories were won, the nature of his dictatorship and finally, why he failed. The book also includes the views of later historians and commentators.
It is divided into four sections which cover his reputation, the background, the interpretations and finally the conclusions. The author has also written " The Coal Mines" and "The Great Depression".