Napoleon: A Life Told in Gardens and Shadows

The most celebrated general in history, Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) has for centuries attracted eminent male writers. Yet in all this time, no definitive portrait of Napoleon has endured, and a mere handful of women have written his biography. With Napoleon, Ruth Scurr emphatically rejects the shibboleth of the "Great Man" theory of history, instead following the dramatic trajectory of Napoleon's life through the green spaces he cultivated, from Corsican olive groves to Parisian menageries and garden plots on the island of St. Helena. "Improbably glorious and exceptionally herbaceous" (Simon Schama, Financial Times), Napoleon, with stunning illustrations throughout, is a work of art of remarkable range and depth, revealing the contours of the general's personality and power as no conventional biography can.