Citizen Emperor: Napoleon in Power 1799-1815 by Philip Dwyer

Judges' comments

Citizen Emperor is the second volume of Philip Dwyer’s biography of Napoleon Bonaparte. Beginning with the 1799 coup that brought Napoleon to power, it examines the machinations that saw him rise to the position of Emperor, and follows his career through to the disastrous overreach of his Russian campaign and his defeat at the battle of Waterloo.

Dwyer is particularly good at explaining the complicated political landscape of post-Revolution France and supplies vivid accounts of Napoleon’s military adventures, his strategic thinking and tactical missteps. He is no less adept at drawing out the intricacies of Napoleon’s difficult personality and his fractious relationship with his family. Dwyer is also astute about the various ways in which Napoleon sought to cultivate his public image, shrewdly positioning himself as the champion of the Revolution and the saviour of France, while knowingly co-opting the symbolism of royalty and consolidating his personal power. Citizen Emperor is at once a monumental feat of scholarship, an absorbing portrait of a deeply ambitious and deeply flawed man, and brilliant account of a towering figure in modern European history.