The Life of Napoleon Bonaparte. Vol. 3

William Milligan SloaneProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.3
Word count
758K words
Chapters
76

Tags

English Originals Historical Figures Historical ReappraisalMilitary StrategyLegendary LivesMilitary CommandersFate and FortunePower GameAntiheroSocial Observation

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.The Life of Napoleon Bonaparte. Vol. 3 (of 4) by William Milligan SloaneAuthor: Sloane, William Milligan, 1850-1928,Language: English, Class: DC: History: General and Eastern Hemisphere: France, Andorra, Monaco, Release Date: Nov 17, 2008

Editor's review

This is the third volume of Sloane's four-volume biography of Napoleon, one of the larger-scale studies of Napoleon produced in the English-speaking world in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. As a middle volume of a multi-volume work, it picks up the narrative thread of the first two volumes and continues through the phase of Napoleon's career in which politics and military affairs were intertwined; it suits readers who already have a basic knowledge of Napoleon's life and wish to go deeper. Sloane's approach combines historical narrative with commentary on the man, organizing his material chronologically; the text is an English public-domain work with the scholarly style of its era, mixing quotation with discussion. Its value for reading lies in observing how an early modern biography understood power, war, and personal ambition, and it can also serve as supplementary reading outside a course on modern French history. Note that this volume is not self-contained; starting directly with it may make the connections to earlier events difficult. It suits history enthusiasts, biography readers, and readers interested in the military and political affairs of the Napoleonic era, who should proceed volume by volume.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Not a good fit for

Reading tips

  1. Be sure to read the first two volumes first, or at least familiarize yourself with Napoleon's early career, before starting this volume.
  2. Keep a timeline of the Napoleonic Wars at hand while reading to help situate the period covered in this volume.
  3. Compare Sloane's commentary with later scholarship, noting the limitations of his era's standpoint and materials.
  4. The English sentences are often long; read section by section and, after each chapter, summarize the key points in your own words.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22
  23. 23
  24. 24
  25. 25
  26. 26
  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
  30. 30
  31. 31
  32. 32
  33. 33
  34. 34
  35. 35
  36. 36
  37. 37
  38. 38
  39. 39
  40. 40
  41. 41
  42. 42
  43. 43
  44. 44
  45. 45
  46. 46
  47. 47
  48. 48
  49. 49
  50. 50
  51. 51
  52. 52
  53. 53
  54. 54
  55. 55
  56. 56
  57. 57
  58. 58
  59. 59
  60. 60
  61. 61
  62. 62
  63. 63
  64. 64
  65. 65
  66. 66
  67. 67
  68. 68
  69. 69
  70. 70
  71. 71
  72. 72
  73. 73
  74. 74
  75. 75
  76. 76

FAQ

Can this third volume be read on its own? It is not recommended. This volume is the middle of a four-volume biography, and its narrative follows on from the first two volumes, with many people and events depending on earlier context. Starting with it alone can make the background and relationships feel disjointed; it is best to proceed volume by volume.
What are the characteristics of Sloane's biography? According to the source information, this is a four-volume biography of Napoleon in which Sloane narrates Napoleon's career chronologically, covering both historical events and commentary on the man. The text is an English public-domain book with the scholarly and writing style of the late nineteenth to early twentieth century, combining discussion with narrative.
Is this book suitable for professional historical research? It can serve as supplementary material for the study of modern history, helping readers understand the tradition of Napoleon narratives in the early English-speaking world. But it is an early biographical work, lacking modern scholarly annotation and dialogue with the latest research; professional research should use it alongside contemporary authoritative studies.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

William Milligan Sloane Author · American · 1850–1928

William Milligan Sloane (1850–1928) was an American historian and educator, born in Richmond, Ohio. He taught at Princeton University and from 1896 held the Seth Low Chair of History at Columbia University. Sloane is best known for his four-volume Life of Napoleon Bonaparte (1896), and he also wrote works such as The French War and the Revolution; the volumes held here are the first through fourth of his Napoleon biography. His writing is noted for solid use of sources and clear narrative, and it has had a notable influence on the study and popular understanding of the Napoleonic era. He also served as president of the American Historical Association, was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and long served as a member of the International Olympic Committee.