The shadow emperor
Subtitle: a biography of Napoléon III
By: Alan Strauss-Schom
Edition: First edition.
Published: 2018
Language: eng
Number of pages: 496
ISBN-13: 9781250057785
Copyright date: 2018
Subjects: Emperors; Influence; Biography; History
Other titles: Biography of Napoleon III
Description: "A breakout biography of Louis-Napoleon III, whose controversial achievements have polarized historians. Considered one of the pre-eminent Napoleon Bonaparte experts, Pulitzer Prize-nominated historian Alan Strauss-Schom has turned his sights on another in that dynasty, Napoleon III (Louis-Napoleon) overshadowed for too long by his more romanticized forebear. In the first full biography of Napoleon III by an American historian, Strauss-Schom uses his years of primary source research to explore the major cultural, sociological, economical, financial, international, and militaristic long-lasting effects of France's most polarizing emperor. Louis-Napoleon's achievements have been mixed and confusing, even to historians. He completely revolutionized the infrastructure of the state and the economy, but at the price of financial scandals of imperial proportions. In an age when 'colonialism' was expanding, Louis-Napoleon's colonial designs were both praised by the emperor's party and the French military and resisted by the socialists. He expanded the nation's railways to match those of England; created major new transoceanic steamship lines and a new modern navy; introduced a whole new banking sector supported by seemingly unlimited venture capital, while also empowering powerful new state and private banks; and completely rebuilt the heart of Paris, street by street. Napoleon III wanted to surpass the legacy of his famous uncle, Napoleon I. In The Shadow Emperor, Alan Strauss-Schom sets the record straight on Napoleon III's legacy"--Provided by publisher.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 433-480) and index.
Table of contents: title: Prince Louis Napoléon; title: A son and his father; title: Auguste de Morny; title: Gentlemanly pursuits; title: Return to Arenenberg; title: Romance and ructions; title: What hath God wrought; title: Farewells and asylum; title: "This grand and glorious undertaking" : Boulogne or bust; title: Funeral for an emperor; title: To Ham, with love, tosh, and toil; title: Marking time; title: A pure new Holy Republic, 1848; title: President of the Republic Bonaparte; title: The Élysée; title: Countdown to empire; title: The Rubicon file; title: The sphinx of the Tuileries; title: Violets and wedding bells; title: Birth of an empire; title: Georges Haussmann; title: Prefect of Paris; title: Crosses, candlesticks, and swords : the Crimea; title: A very special relationship; title: A child of France; title: An Italian opera; title: Return of a carbonaro : Italy, 1859; title: Four seasons; title: Inquisition at Baden, 1860; title: Offenbachland; title: Fields of empire; title: An arab kingdom; title: Bismarck : war watch; title: Ebb tide; title: Count Bismarck's war, 1870; title: To Berlin!; title: "Were you at Sedan, Henri?"; title: Elegy for an emperor.