Frank McLynn for Random House Goodness but there is a lot of writing in this book. It takes us from the birth of Napoleon through to his death in extraordinary detail. I know little of the arguments that surround the analysis of the Little Corporal but this volume works up a good tale. Napoleon's interesting sexual make-up and his strange relationship with Josephine are reduced to part of a Jungian model. (Apparently Napoleon frequently masturbated before battle, lets hope no-one develops an icon for that! And please no additional phases!) Indeed, Napoleon's whole drive, according to McLynn was a predatory one where possession seems less important than the capture and ravishment. McLynn is not at all persuaded about Napoleon's position as a great liberator, although he views him as surprisingly generous in his private life. The political collapse of his power is well charted as is his blindness over Spain and Russia. The horrible slaughter and general disaster visited on Europe by Napoleon, whether or not he was "forced to do it" by the Allies, is terrible to read. McLynn begins to get into a fearful bate over the British forcing Napoleon to war (as does poor sad little Scotty Bowden in his Austerlitz book) but McLynn is clever enough to identify that Britain had but one interest, divide and rule and it held true to that principle. But what opportunities for all sides. Time for the Duke of Treviso to devise a Napoleonic Krieg!. I am not sure whether I agree with a lot of what McLynn says, but I would need to read a lot more to be convincing in criticism. Some of the military detail on the Hundred Days is very wonky and he never quite grasps that the King of Prussia was not yet the Kaiser so he may be weaker than other bits suggest. What a story though! More Book Corner: The King's Army Culloden and The '45 1918 The Unexpected Victory The Boyne & Aughrim Scalp Dance Napoleon William The Lion 1143-1214 The Art of Warfare During The Middle Ages Philip Augustus James IV The Twilight of a Military Tradition Colonial Empires And Armies 1815-1960 Back to Perfidious Albion #96 Table of Contents Back to Perfidious Albion List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1998 by Charles and Teresa Vasey. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com