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 powerful than any since Rome, fighting wars that changed the shape of the continent and brought death to millions. Then everything collapsed, leading him to spend his last years in miserable exile in the South Atlantic. Bell emphasizes the importance of the French Revolution in understanding Napoleon's career. The revolution made possible the unprecedented concentration of political authority that Napoleon accrued, and his success in mobilizing human and material resources. Without the political changes brought about by the revolution, Napoleon could not have fought his wars. Without the wars, he could not have seized and held onto power. Though his virtual dictatorship betrayed the ideals of liberty and equality, his life and career were revolutionary.

A biography of Hirohito, the late Japanese emperor.

This important new and original study on the institution of the Japanese emperors, from their mythological beginnings to the present day, focuses on the enigma of the institution itself, namely, the extraordinary continuity of the Japanese dynasty, which is unknown anywhere else in the world, yet which is now at risk on account of more recent laws of succession. The prisms through which this remarkable achievement is examined are the notions of divinity, gender and subservience. The volume is divided into nine sections: Strange Survival; The Feminine Beginnings of the Japanese Monarchy; Empresses and Consorts; Subservience as Power; Rising Fortunes in an Era of Peace; Meiji: the National Father Figure; The Elusive Divinity of the Modern Emperors; Return to Sacred Subservience; Continuity in Danger. Based on earlier research first published in Japanese ( Haha Naru Tenno ), Enigma of the Emperors adds significantly to the existing corpus of work on this subject, addressing many traditional preconceptions and misconceptions along the way. Accordingly, it will undoubtedly be welcomed within scholarly circles, as well as being of particular interest to a wider readership, not least because of its relevance in the context of the major contemporary issues surrounding the future of the dynasty in the twenty-first century.

Anthony Blond moves away from the idea of the Roman emperors as noble rulers and instead paints a scandalous picture. The book focuses on six emperors and also devotes sections to Roman society and to the city itself.