The Black Room at Longwood

by Kauffmann, Jean-Paul

• ISBN13: 9781568581712
• ISBN10: 1568581718
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-09-07
• Publisher: Da Capo Pr

Summary

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 He became increasingly withdrawn, surviving on a diet of memories that he recounted to the few people around him.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

Table of Contents

Foreword	xiii
Prologue	1	(4)
The First Day	5	(34)
The Second Day	39	(26)
The Third Day	65	(24)
The Fourth Day	89	(38)
The Fifth Day	127	(60)
The Sixth Day	187	(28)
The Seventh Day	215	(32)
The Eighth Day	247	(32)
The Ninth Day	279	(6)
Epilogue	285	(4)
Endnotes	289	(4)
Bibliography	293	(4)
Acknowledgements	297