About the Author

Adam Zamoyski is a British historian of Polish origin. He is the author of the best-selling 1812: Napoleon’s Fatal March on Moscow and its sequel Rites of Peace: The Fall of Napoleon and the Congress of Vienna, as well as several other acclaimed works on key figures and aspects of European history. His books have been translated into Russian, Chinese, Japanese and Persian as well as most of the European languages. His comprehensive history of Poland, The Polish Way, not only featured in the best-seller lists for several weeks when it came out in 1987, but has never been out of print since. Zamoyski has also contributed to all the major British papers and periodicals, as well as lecturing widely in England, Europe and the United States. He lives in London and Poland.

Reviews

'A pacy and characteristically unintimidated picture of how and why Napoleon achieved what he did and then succeeded in screwing it all up …. 600 pages of narrative history will seldom pass so easily' David Crane, Spectator 'Adam Zamoyski refreshingly downsizes the Corsican commander-in-chief' Nicky Haslam, Spectator ‘Always elegant in style and original in analysis. Zamoyski, a master of the sources and of the culture and politics that created his subject, produces a fresh, nuanced, beautifully written, gripping and outstanding biography of Napoleon that reveals him to be a triumph of luck and accident as much as the invincible genius of the legend’ Simon Sebag-Montefiore, author of The Romanovs and Jerusalem: The Biography ‘Napoleon is an out-and-out masterpiece and a joy to read’ Sir Antony Beevor, author of Stalingrad ‘A lifetime’s diligent research and profound thinking about Napoleon and his times has gone into this hugely readable, highly enjoyable and well-balanced biography. Zamoyski is at the top of his game as a biographer’ Andrew Roberts, Visiting Professor, Department of War Studies, King’s College, London ‘Adam Zamoyski has retold a story that we thought we knew and made it fresh: stripping away two centuries of mythology, discarding the apocryphal stories and legends, he finally brings us the real Napoleon’ Anne Applebaum, author of Red Famine: Stalin’s War on Ukraine