4.0
The Age of Napoleon
ByPublisher Description
The eleventh and final volume of the classic, Pulitzer Prize–winning series The Story of Civilization, covering Napoleon’s reign and a history of European civilization from 1789 to 1815.
A bold, comprehensive journey through history as a study of human nature, beginning with the chaos of the French Revolution and the improbable rise of Napoleon Bonaparte, The Age of Napoleon explores how power, belief, luck, and circumstance—not ideals—shape civilizations.
Drawing on examples from every continent, Pulitzer Prize–winning author Will Durant argues that history reveals enduring patterns: religion, though repeatedly challenged by reason, proves indispensable to social cohesion; equality is an illusion incompatible with civilization, which has always depended on power, hierarchy, and the leadership of narrow-minded but decisive individuals; and progress is fragile as barbarism waits patiently at the edges, ready to reclaim what civilization forgets to defend. Even greatness offers no protection from oblivion, as time erases nearly every name it once celebrated.
Clear-eyed, provocative, and deeply humane, this work shows why history matters—not to flatter our hopes, but to teach us how rare stability is, how quickly it can vanish, and how fortunate we are to live when we do.
A bold, comprehensive journey through history as a study of human nature, beginning with the chaos of the French Revolution and the improbable rise of Napoleon Bonaparte, The Age of Napoleon explores how power, belief, luck, and circumstance—not ideals—shape civilizations.
Drawing on examples from every continent, Pulitzer Prize–winning author Will Durant argues that history reveals enduring patterns: religion, though repeatedly challenged by reason, proves indispensable to social cohesion; equality is an illusion incompatible with civilization, which has always depended on power, hierarchy, and the leadership of narrow-minded but decisive individuals; and progress is fragile as barbarism waits patiently at the edges, ready to reclaim what civilization forgets to defend. Even greatness offers no protection from oblivion, as time erases nearly every name it once celebrated.
Clear-eyed, provocative, and deeply humane, this work shows why history matters—not to flatter our hopes, but to teach us how rare stability is, how quickly it can vanish, and how fortunate we are to live when we do.
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesThe Age of Napoleon Reviews
4.0
“Because I could not stop for Death, he kindly stopped for me – or didn’t. Will and Ariel Durant intended for Rousseau and Revolution to be the final volume in their epic history of Western Civilization, but grew bored waiting for the Grim Reaper to show up and claim them. They decided, therefore, to scratch an itch, and devote a final volume to Europe in the age of Napoleon. No individual has ever dominated a single volume in this fashion; even Charles the Fifth, in The Reformation, would disappear in chapters chronicling Persia and Arabia. But Napoleon’s story encompasses not just France and England, but Spain, Italy, Germany, Austria, and Russia. The emperor does move backstage at times – in the chapters on English poetry and novels, for instance – but he is never completely gone. This final volume manages through Napoleon’s person to be just as comprehensive, but more tightly bound.
The Durants open with a more involved chronicle of the French revolution that concluded Rousseau and Revolution, this one making more obvious that the revolution was a slow but quickening crumbling of royal legitimacy that collapsed into the chaos of revolution after a few sudden shocks. The king’s decision to attempt to escape France in fear of his life was one such shock, demonstrating that he was and remained an actor – not a prop. From here, the Durants follow the Wars of the Coalitions, as the various nations of Eurrope fell in to and out of alliances with or against France, with the enmity between England and France being the only fixed point. In 1807, with Napoleon enjoying one of his greatest triumphs – the subjugation of Prussia, and the pretended friendship of Russia – the Durants pause to cover both French and English culture, including one hundred pages on English poetry alone. They then alternate sections on the culture of Germany, Russia, Italy, Iberia, etc and sections on the Napoleonic wars as they encompassed these regions.
Related to this volume’s unusual dominance by one person is the unusually heavy amount of military coverage here. The Durants typically dispatch wars in a few sentences, concerned with them only as a background to the social or political events that develop as a consequence. There’s no getting away from battles and Napoleon, though, even considering the energy he poured into the political administration of France and Europe, and the long-term effects that energy would have. The result is not a military history, however; there are no maps of battles. Instead, the Durants treat the readers with their usual balance of literature, science, economics, etc. there is a section on Jane Austen, for instance. Another prominent author, Germaine de Staël, maintained a long rivalry with Napoleon; she wrote a celebratory survey of German culture that pined for more amity between France and the Germans, and was present in Russia when Napoleon drove towards Moscow. Beethoven, of course, merits a full section of his own.
Napoleon reliably described himself as a Son of the Revolution, even though his policies ended some revolutionary dreams. His concordant with Rome, for instance, re-established the Catholic Church in France, albeit in a corralled form. That was a far cry from the total secularization (or de-christianization, depending on the revolutionary), dreamed of by many – those who redrew the calendar and butchered France's artistic legacies, those who in a just heaven will be consigned to war forever with the whitewashing Puritans and the sculpture-smashing Wahhabis, as well as others who would destroy art and heritage for ideology. Napoleon did apply much of the revolutionary, modernizing spirit to those parts of Europe he conquered -- overwriting their ancient laws and traditions with constitutions from his own pen. Although Napoleon kept faith with some of the past as convenient -- his concordant with Rome, for instance -- the Durants observe that in his army and state, merit reigned, allowing even commoners to advance.
Although the Napoleonic wars have never been of great interest to me, the Durants' volume created an actual enthusiasm in me about the subject. As usual, I was impressed with their critical but forgiving evaluation of Napoleon, whom they regard as one of the singular men of history. His reputation owes not just to his role in closing the violence of the revolution, or in his spectacular battles -- but pouring so much energy into his work, and being so successful in combat and in administration, that he transformed Europe, planting seeds that would flourish throughout the 19th century. A century after his final defeat at Waterloo, an even greater war -- one spurred by changes Napoleon wrought -- would be harrowing the soil of France in blood, bones, and cannon once more.
And now, dear readers, what's next in Will Durant's Story of Civilization?
C'EST FINI!”
“This finishes the Durant's Story of Civilization series. While he ended the previous book with an envoi telling everyone he was finished, he starts this book telling how he got bored with retirement and popped out one more hefty tome. Too bad he didn't live another 50 years. The books get progressively better. I recommend the series, but not necessarily in order. The first books cover too much time with less detail as less information is available. Also, Durant really develops his voice throughout the city offering more direct commentary throughout. The series ranges from fascinating biogrpapies to sometimes tedious explorations of philosophical debates that don't make much sense to the modern reader.”
About Will Durant
Will Durant (1885–1981) was awarded the Pulitzer Prize (1968) and the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1977). He spent more than fifty years writing his critically acclaimed eleven-volume series, The Story of Civilization (the later volumes written in conjunction with his wife, Ariel). A champion of human rights issues, such as the brotherhood of man and social reform, long before such issues were popular, Durant’s writing still educates and entertains readers around the world.
Other books by Will Durant
Ariel Durant
Will and Ariel Durant, after spending over fifty years completing the critically acclaimed series The Story of Civilization, were awarded the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction in 1968. In 1977, the Durants were presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Champions of human rights and social reform, the Durants continue to educate and entertain readers the world over. For more information on their work, visit www.willdurant.com.
Other books by Ariel Durant
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