Books like The Age of Napoleon by Alistair Horne

Herbert P. Bix’s Pulitzer‑winning biography traces Emperor Hirohito’s reign from his birth into a divine dynasty to his pivotal role in Japan’s military expansion, wartime decisions, and postwar transformation.

"Written with great energy and authority--and using the newly available personal archives of Napoleon himself--the first volume of a majestic two-part biography of the great French emperor and conqueror. All previous lives of Napoleon have relied more on the memoirs of others than on his own uncensored words. This is the first life of Napoleon, in any language, that makes full use of his newly released personal correspondence compiled by the Napoléon Foundation in Paris. All previous lives of Napoleon have relied more on the memoirs of others than on his own uncensored words. Michael Broers' biography draws on the thoughts of Napoleon himself as his incomparable life unfolded. It reveals a man of intense emotion, but also of iron self-discipline; of acute intelligence and immeasurable energy. Tracing his life from its dangerous Corsican roots, through his rejection of his early identity, and the dangerous military encounters of his early career, it tells the story of the sheer determination, ruthlessness, and careful calculation that won him the precarious mastery of Europe by 1807. After the epic battles of Austerlitz, Jena and Friedland, France was the dominant land power on the continent. Here is the first biography of Napoleon in which this brilliant, violent leader is evoked to give the reader a full, dramatic, and all-encompassing portrait."--

Investigative journalist Phoebe Eaton separates man from myth, journeying past cartel checkpoints up to El Chapo’s remote hometown hideout in the Sierra Madre. She meets Chapo's family and reveals the surprising telenovela details of his childhood, discovering exactly how this third-grade dropout, Mexico’s most controversial narcotrafficker, rappelled his way from the rock pile that is La Tuna, Sinaloa, onto Forbes magazine's big-time billionaire list, governing a $14-billion empire even as he was on the lam, living in simple pine shacks with plastic folding chairs where the phone service went down if it was raining. She discovers the Pentecostal faith his mother (and he) credit with keeping him alive all these years and helping him escape jail and the authorities numerous times, the gift his mother and sisters (and perhaps even he) have of speaking in tongues. Including many never-seen-before color pictures from Chapo's haunts in La Tuna in Badiraguato, the surprising seat of his empire, and also rare material from his 12-week Brooklyn court trial where he was convicted on ten felony counts before shipping off to a life term in Colorado's Supermax prison.

Napoleon's campaigns within Europe have been exhaustively covered, but in this pioneering and highly original survey, Paul Fregosi focuses on Napoleon's forays outside Continental Europe. Reminding us that Napoleon wanted to be "not just the Emperor of France and the conqueror of Europe, but Emperor of the Orient and the Conqueror of India," Fregosi explores Napoleon's global ambition -- an ambition so vast that hardly a corner of the world remained untouched. In this engrossing work, Fregosi examines Napoleon's overall methods and aims, and also recounts Napoleon's campaigns in America (Louisiana), the West Indies, the Middle East, Africa, Ireland, Asia and South America. Few people realize that Napoleon conquered the islands of Haiti, Guadalupe, St. Kitt's and Martinique in the Caribbean and Guyana in South America. In Africa, he captured Capetown and occupied Senegal. Napoleon's ships took Mauritius and the Seychelles Islands in the Indian Ocean, and in the Southwest Pacific, the tricolor flag of France flew over Java. And in the Mediterranean, Napoleon occupied Malta, Corfu and Cypress. Fregosi fills his pages with fascinating detail, vivid character sketches and exciting battle scenes. Dreams of Empire fills in the gaps left in the more conventional history of Napoleon's wars and provides a fresh and highly readable interpretation of his actions and their consequences. - Jacket flap.

Examining the Napoleonic Wars, Charles J. Esdaile argues that Napoleon’s relentless pursuit of military glory drove Europe into conflict, while the continent’s leaders’ willingness to risk ruin amplified the violence that transformed 1800‑1815 Europe.

This third munificent Horizon book which represents a great deal of work by a great many people is, quite frankly, an idea-project-production job with a mass market gift book designation. There are 330 pictures, 117 in full color, some double spreads, and the color is not subtle. Throughout there are insets on special features of the period, its intellectual cadre, its fashions, arts, society, Napoleon's family, his loves, his son, and ultimately extending to vistas of other parts of the world -- England, America, Russia, etc. The main narrative, the parabola of the rise of Le Petit Caporal to Emperor, to his expensive defeat and downfall, has been written by that master of this age-J. Christopher Herold. One follows the little ""Corsican savage"" from his early years to the tyrant's progress on the road to ""la gloire"". And his legacy, spread eagled across the centuries, is evaluated in terms of real contributions (Code Napoleon, etc.) and apocryphal associations.

Jeff Sypeck’s *Becoming Charlemagne* retraces how the Frankish king Karl, crowned by Pope Leo III in 800, built a medieval empire through warfare, diplomacy, and alliances with leaders from Byzantium, the Abbasid Caliphate, and Jewish communities.

Napoleon and Josephine's relationship is one of the most fascinating love stories history. Their unlikely union began in the heady atmosphere of post-Terror Paris. Josephine was a sensual and debt-ridden widow in search of a wealthy protector; Napoleon was a ruthlessly ambitious young army officer in need of a wife with a fortune. When Napoleon, blinded by passion and dazzled by Josephine's apparent influence in powerful political salons, insisted upon marriage, she accepted only with the greatest reluctance. Their roles were reversed after Napoleon's return to Paris from his victorious military campaigns, and his forgiveness of her notorious infidelity. The former awkward suitor had become France's most glorious military hero, carrying her with him up the very steps of the imperial throne. Their often-precarious marriage survived his infidelities and her wild extravagance. While his incandescent passion for her turned into friendship, she was transformed into a tender and faithful wife. Whether restoring order to a chaotic post-revolutionary France or conquering two-thirds of Europe, Napoleon's attention remained centered on Josephine, his incomparable consort, the core of his imperial court, and the island of serenity that never failed him. Her inability to produce an heir led to divorce and the foundation of Napoleon's power began to crumble only after his separation from the woman he superstitiously regarded as his lucky star. Evangeline Bruce brings both of these magnetic personalities to life in this enthralling portrait, illuminating their public and private lives with seductive detail and exploring the social and cultural context in which they lived. Her impeccabIy researched work, much of it drawn from Napoleon and Josephine's own letters and journals, is a landmark biography of two of history's most important and engaging people.