Mclynn napoleon biography videos


Book cover of Napoleon: A Biography, by Frank McLynn, 1997. The painting is Napoleon Crossing the Alps, by Napoleon's favorite painter, Jacques-Louis David.

While I was reading Andrew Roberts’ excellent 2014 biography of Napoleon Bonaparte, Napoleon: A Life, I was also reading Frank McLynn’s 1997 book Napoleon: A Biography on my Kindle.

So I’ve been a little immersed in the Napoleonic era as of late, and I might be suffering from Napoleon overload.

Napoleon: A Biography - Frank McLynn - Google Books

McLynn’s book isn’t as good as Roberts’, but it’s still an excellent treatment of a fascinating figure.

McLynn is a psychological biographer who published a biography of Carl Jung the same year Napoleon: A Biography came out. McLynn’s constant psychoanalyzing of Napoleon became tiring as the book went on, and I could have used a little less psychoanalytic theory.

The book starts slowly, as McLynn spends a lot of time on Napoleon’s childhood. But the pace picks Napoleon: A Biography - Anna’s Archive POH