Like his subject; Napoleon; author Jean-Paul Kauffmann has experienced captivity; as a three-year hostage in Beirut. He brings his insider's knowledge to this moving account of the most famous French soldier's last years in seclusion on a tropical island. After his defeat at Waterloo in 1815; Napoleon was exiled and imprisoned by the British on the island of St. Helena. He became increasingly withdrawn; surviving on a diet of memories that he recounted to the few people around him. But the book -- part history; part travelogue -- portrays the leader as a prisoner also of his mind; poisoned by nostalgia for his triumphs and grief over his defeats. "A haunting; unforgettable book....Kauffmann captures the desolate atmosphere of Napoleon's last home with evocative precision." -- Boston Globe
#1252518 in Books 1997-09-01 1997-09-01Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 8.76 x 1.18 x 5.92l; 1.20 #File Name: 1566631742444 pagesHolocaust
Review
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. The power of a movement to change a nation.By KarenKazooThe Largest part of me is German Descent; so that is why I read the book. I wanted to see if the book matched with what I had been told in school and in my home. I am the third generation in America; but I was always so flabbergasted by what one group of people could to another even as a child; I never could quite grasp this train of thought. As a Christian I am also a part of the Kingdom God has promised to both Christian and Jews. The Jewish heritage is what the Torah and the Bible are all about. Without that heritage; Christ would never have been born. Hitler had a lot of fanatical people around him - all losers. They may have been rich or poor; but the doctrine of WWII was hate. How Hitler replaced the Jewish and Christian faiths with a pagan ideology then turned his hate into Anti-Semitism is still amazing to this day. This became the German mantra a type of insanity. It became a religion without God. The author showed that Anti-Semitism Germany in the times of the Reformation and the French Enlightenment period and how this fueled the Nazi movement. Hitler had distain for the elites; the academics; and the intellectuals because he did not feel a part of it. You will come away with a rich knowledge; analytical logic; and understanding of how immense power can brain wash a whole nation.8 of 8 people found the following review helpful. OUTSTANDING BOOK - A long history of European Anti SemitismBy Dano MaxwellThe book deals with every possible form of anti-Judaism from the early days of Christianity in Europe through to the Reformation; World War I and World war II.The amount of research that must have gone into creating this book boggles the mind.The author shows clearly why the Holocaust happened in Austria/Germany and not in France; Spain; Italy or Great Britain. Topics discussed are many and include Martin Luther; Racial Purity; Patriotism; Anti-Democracy; Anti-Semitism as embedded government policy; Eugenics.0 of 1 people found the following review helpful. A further workBy cwkInteresting work on Germanic (German-Austrian) Christian origins of the Holocaust; somewhat diminished by polemicism and simplification.
