The Age of Napoleon by Will and Ariel Durant

Napoleon is a hero of French history. As a historical figure he was a truly remarkable person becoming emperor of France and conquering the whole of Europe. Eventually the rise of Napoleon was ended at the battle of waterloo after a long war with Russian and English forces but rarely has the world seen such a meteoric rise to power. Such remarkable conquest has solely been the domain of others in history such as Alexander the great and Genghis Khan. At the height of his power, Napoleon was the master of Europe and his legacy is an entire era of European history characterized by enormous changes and advancements in military science and organization.

The Napoleonic era also laid the foundations for the modern French state and in a sense created the consciousness which was required to set in motion the movements towards modern democracy all over the world. It represented the end of the divine right of kings and birth of the age of reason and democracy. It was also an awakening which came slightly after the beginning of the enlightenment and modern science and essentially represented the social and political revolutions which followed the renaissance at the end of the dark ages.

This brilliant book composed by Will and Arial Durant is a tour de force of historical analysis. The book presents this period of history with insight and a deep understanding of the relevance of the book to the contemporary world. It recently attracted the praise of the maverick billionaire Elon Musk who posted with praise for the book on Twitter. As a man of science and engineering, it seems unlikely that Mr Musk would have an appreciation of historical writing so an endorsement from him speaks volumes to the way in which the book maintains a broad appeal to people from all walks of life and is able to make a potentially dull subject interesting and accessible to everybody.

Elon Musk recently stated that he loved this book