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Title details for The Invisible Emperor by Mark Braude - Wait list

The Invisible Emperor

by Mark Braude
ebook
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 “A suspenseful, fast-paced account. . . . Braude’s prose glints with humor and humanity.” —Seattle Times
A gripping narrative history of Napoleon Bonaparte's ten-month exile on the Mediterranean island of Elba
In the spring of 1814, Napoleon Bonaparte was defeated. Having overseen an empire spanning half the European continent and governed the lives of some eighty million people, he suddenly found himself exiled to Elba, less than a hundred square miles of territory. This would have been the end of him, if Europe's rulers had had their way. But soon enough Napoleon imposed his preternatural charisma and historic ambition on both his captors and the very island itself, plotting his return to France and to power. After ten months of exile, he escaped Elba with just of over a thousand supporters in tow, marched to Paris, and retook the Tuileries Palace—all without firing a shot. Not long after, tens of thousands of people would die fighting for and against him at Waterloo.
Braude dramatizes this strange exile and improbable escape in granular detail and with novelistic relish, offering sharp new insights into a largely overlooked moment. He details a terrific cast of secondary characters, including Napoleon's tragically-noble official British minder on Elba, Neil Campbell, forever disgraced for having let "Boney" slip away; and his young second wife, Marie Louise who was twenty-two to Napoleon's forty-four, at the time of his abdication. What emerges is a surprising new perspective on one of history's most consequential figures, which both subverts and celebrates his legendary persona.
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Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group

Kindle Book

  • ISBN: 9780735222618
  • Release date: October 9, 2018

OverDrive Read

  • ISBN: 9780735222618
  • Release date: October 9, 2018

EPUB ebook

  • ISBN: 9780735222618
  • File size: 3875 KB
  • Release date: October 9, 2018
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Formats

Kindle Book
OverDrive Read
EPUB ebook

subjects

History Nonfiction

Languages

English

 “A suspenseful, fast-paced account. . . . Braude’s prose glints with humor and humanity.” —Seattle Times
A gripping narrative history of Napoleon Bonaparte's ten-month exile on the Mediterranean island of Elba
In the spring of 1814, Napoleon Bonaparte was defeated. Having overseen an empire spanning half the European continent and governed the lives of some eighty million people, he suddenly found himself exiled to Elba, less than a hundred square miles of territory. This would have been the end of him, if Europe's rulers had had their way. But soon enough Napoleon imposed his preternatural charisma and historic ambition on both his captors and the very island itself, plotting his return to France and to power. After ten months of exile, he escaped Elba with just of over a thousand supporters in tow, marched to Paris, and retook the Tuileries Palace—all without firing a shot. Not long after, tens of thousands of people would die fighting for and against him at Waterloo.
Braude dramatizes this strange exile and improbable escape in granular detail and with novelistic relish, offering sharp new insights into a largely overlooked moment. He details a terrific cast of secondary characters, including Napoleon's tragically-noble official British minder on Elba, Neil Campbell, forever disgraced for having let "Boney" slip away; and his young second wife, Marie Louise who was twenty-two to Napoleon's forty-four, at the time of his abdication. What emerges is a surprising new perspective on one of history's most consequential figures, which both subverts and celebrates his legendary persona.
Expand title description text
History Nonfiction