The Corsican

June 4, 2017 7:57 PM

Best one-volume history of the Napoleonic Wars? Best one volume biography of Napoleon?

Also, best one-volume biography of Wellington?

posted by the man of twists and turns to Society & Culture (5 answers total)

A 800+ pages it pushes the bounds of a single volume, but Andrew Roberts' Napoleon: A Life is pretty good, although Roberts sometimes borders on hagiography, he's also excellent at mythbusting, something needed far more with Napoleon than most other historical figures.
posted by dis_integration at 8:00 PM on June 4, 2017

I'm certainly no expert but I very much enjoyed Herold's Age of Napoleon. I think it has held up well as far as its facts and interpretation (it's from 1949) and I found it very readable and informative.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 9:56 PM on June 4, 2017

I liked Alan Schom's Napoleon bio.
posted by Chrysostom at 11:12 PM on June 4, 2017

I got the Roberts one above on audiobook (narrated by Steven Thorne) and was enjoyable, long, listen. (Can't vouch if one of the "best" though as not read that widely on Napoleon.)
posted by Gratishades at 3:11 AM on June 5, 2017

For the wars, I highly recommend David A. Bell's The First Total War: Napoleon's Europe and the Birth of Warfare as We Know It and (for the Russian campaign) Dominic Lieven's Russia Against Napoleon: The True Story of the Campaigns of War and Peace.
posted by languagehat at 8:18 AM on June 5, 2017