Napoleon

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This portrait of Napoleon, created for the 200th anniversary of his death, shifts focus from power politics and epic battles to his profound love of nature and gardens, which illuminated his revolutionary life. His gardens span from childhood olive groves in Corsica to Josephine's menageries in Paris, and include sites in Cairo, Rome, Elba, and the walled garden at Hougoumont during Waterloo. Ultimately, it leads to his final garden on St. Helena, where Chinese laborers built him a summerhouse to gaze at the sea in his last months. During the French Revolution, debates about human nature and the natural world were pivotal, and this cultural history situates Napoleon within that context. He aspired to be a patron of science and progress, aiming to heal the wounds of the Revolution, yet his reign also sparked widespread destruction and war, resulting in millions of deaths across Europe. This innovative biography, akin to Ruth Scurr's acclaimed works, presents Napoleon as a complex figure, humanized through the perspectives of those who knew him—both notable and obscure—amidst the shade of his gardens. The narrative vividly captures him as both the ambitious Emperor and the man in an old straw hat, leaning on his spade.