What he is accused of is of man. The rest is of the archangel and the giant.
Posted by Michel Morvan on
Almost everything has been said and written about him and France is celebrating the bicentenary of his death in 2021. It is of course Napoleon , and the quote is from Victor Hugo .
Isn't it a good time to look back at the results of his fifteen-year reign as one of the French people's favourite characters ? This is what Philippe Courroye invites us to do in his essay: Accused Napoleon, Stand Up ! The Emperor at the Bar of History.
Imagining himself in the role of prosecutor before this tribunal of History , the attorney general Philippe Courroye, in a brilliant indictment, accomplishes a remarkable work of historian, served by an elegant and chiseled style . He sweeps over six chapters the main facets of this peerless ruler, at once monarch , warrior , head of state , scholar and skilled communicator in the service of his legend.
At the end of this 300-page work, which reads like a novel , one is tempted, like Victor Hugo, to conclude: "What we reproach him for is human. The rest is archangel and giant." A bedside book to revisit this essential period in French history.