"A mesmerizing account that illuminates not just the Napoleonic wars but all of modern history . . . It reads like a novel" (Lynn Hunt, Eugen Weber Professor of modern European history, UCLA).The twentieth century is usually seen as "the century of total war." But as the historian David A. Bell argues in this landmark work, the phenomenon actually began much earlier, in the era of muskets, cannons, and sailing ships—in the age of Napoleon.In a sweeping, evo...

This Very Short Introduction might prove disappointing to those expecting an introduction to a very short man. Dispelling the myth of Napoleon Bonaparte's short stature, as well as the other rumors and legends, David A. Bell provides a concise, accurate, and lively portrait of Napoleon Bonaparte's character and career, situating him firmly in historical context. This book emphasizes the astonishing sense of human possibility--for both good and ill--that Napoleon represented. By his late tw...

This book provides a concise, accurate, and lively portrait of Napoleon Bonaparte's character and career, situating him firmly in historical context. David Bell emphasizes the astonishing sense of human possibility--for both good and ill--that Napoleon represented. By his late twenties, Napoleon was already one of the greatest generals in European history. At thirty, he had become absolute master of Europe's most powerful country. In his early forties, he ruled a European empire more power...

This book provides a concise, accurate, and lively portrait of Napoleon Bonaparte's character and career, situating him firmly in historical context. David Bell emphasizes the astonishing sense of human possibility--for both good and ill--that Napoleon represented. By his late twenties, Napoleon was already one of the greatest generals in European history. At thirty, he had become absolute master of Europe's most powerful country. In his early forties, he ruled a European empire more power...

An immersive examination of why the age of democratic revolutions was also a time of hero worship and strongmen."In his lucid and bracing history, Bell helps us better understand how [a] charismatic grifter came to occupy the most powerful office in the world . . . Bell's description of our predicament makes for essential reading." — Los Angeles Review of BooksIn Men on Horseback, the Princeton University ...

This Very Short Introduction might prove disappointing to those expecting an introduction to a very short man. Dispelling the myth of Napoleon Bonaparte's short stature, as well as the other rumors and legends, David A. Bell provides a concise, accurate, and lively portrait of Napoleon Bonaparte's character and career, situating him firmly in historical context. This book emphasizes the astonishing sense of human possibility--for both good and ill--that Napoleon represented. By his late tw...

In a work of lucid prose and striking originality, Bell offers the first comprehensive survey of patriotism and national sentiment in early modern France, and shows how the dialectical relationship between nationalism and religion left a complex legacy that still resonates in debates over French national identity today.Table of Contents:PrefaceIntroduction: Constructing the NationThe National and the SacredThe Politics of Patriotis...

En Europe comme en Amérique, l’expérience révolutionnaire mena souvent au pouvoir suprême de chefs militaires charismatiques. Pascal Paoli, George Washington, Napoléon Bonaparte, Toussaint Louverture, Simon Bolívar suscitèrent tous en leur temps l’enthousiasme des populations, au point de s’imposer à la tête de leurs pays.En faisant résonner ces destins hors du commun, David A. Bell révèle combien sont liées histoire de la démocratie et histoire du charisme politique. Car c’est bien...

This book provides a concise, accurate, and lively portrait of Napoleon Bonaparte's character and career, situating him firmly in historical context.David Bell emphasizes the astonishing sense of human possibility—for both good and ill—that Napoleon represented. By his late twenties, Napoleon was already one of the greatest generals in European history. At thirty, he had become absolute master of Europe's most powerful country. In his early forties, he ruled a European empire more ...

Renowned historian, essayist, and journalist David A. Bell has long made France and its history the subject of his scholarly gaze and the object of his enduring affection. Shadows of Revolution: Reflections on France, Past and Present gathers together his writing, composed over a period of more than 25 years, into a single volume. As the title of this collection suggests, Bell views much of French history through the lens of the Revolutionary era. Within a space of a dozen years, ...

The twentieth century is usually seen as "the century of total war." But as the historian David A. Bell argues in this landmark work, the phenomenon actually began much earlier, in the era of muskets, cannons, and sailing ships—in the age of Napoleon.In a sweeping, evocative narrative, Bell takes us from campaigns of "extermination" in the blood-soaked fields of western France to savage street fighting in ruined Spanish cities to central European battlefields where tens of thousand...

Skyrocketing energy costs have spurred renewed interest in coal gasification. Currently available information on this subject needs to be updated, however, and focused on specific coals and end products. For example, carbon capture and sequestration, previously given little attention, now has a prominent role in coal conversion processes.This book approaches coal gasification and related technologies from a process engineering point of view, with topics chosen to aid the process engineer w...