Andrew Roberts' big, meticulously researched and very readable Napoleon: A Life is aimed at the general reader, but will appeal particularly to those who already know the essentials of his story.

This Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres’ 1804 portrait of Napoleon shows him as a civilian officer instead of an invading hero. Musée des Beaux-Arts, Liège, France “Ah, if it were only to be done over ...

The French Revolution in the 18th century saw the downfall of the French monarchy and the ascension of a prominent figure who played a major role in shaping modern European history. The abolishment of ...

NAPOLEON: A Life, by Andrew Roberts. Viking, 926 pp. $45. "Ah, if it were only to be done over again!" sighed Napoleon Bonaparte about the Battle of Waterloo as he sailed into exile and imprisonment.

As only French biographers can do, every conceivable motive and alternative scenario is presented at every stage in the astonishing rise of the subject from the petty and parvenu and rather ...

Napoleon: Historical drama. Starring Christian Clavier, John Malkovich, and Isabella Rossellini. Directed by Yves Simoneau. Written by Didier Decoin. 8 p. m. Monday and Tuesday on A&E. Like invading ...

IF THE tremendous accumulation of books about Napoleon seems an argument against reading another, it is an even stronger argument against writing one. Emil Ludwig’s “Napoleon, the Man of Destiny” is a ...