Napoleon and the Rebel: A Story of Brotherhood, Passion, and Power

Husband-and-wife historians Simonetta (The Montefeltro Conspiracy: A Renaissance Mystery Decoded) and Arikha (Passions and Tempers: A History of the Humours) offer a biography of Napoleon's younger brother, Lucien Bonaparte (1775%E2%80%931840). Lucien had only a brief public life, first aiding Napoleon in becoming First Consul in 1799 and, in 1804, emperor. Lucien also served as minister of the interior and ambassador to Spain. But Simonetta and Arikha's central narrative concerns the estrangement of the brothers when Lucien married his mistress, Alexandrine, rather than the woman Napoleon had chosen for him. Furious, Napoleon tried to get Lucien to divorce her and join the other siblings in ruling the empire. Instead, Lucien, Alexandrine, and their seven children spent most of their lives in exile in Italy. The authors hew too closely to the fraternal drama, often giving short shrift to the larger historical picture; they devote only one sentence to Lucien's active role in negotiating the 1801 Concordat between Napoleon and the pope. The authors portray Lucien as a gifted and principled man with republican sympathies, an art collector, and a poet praised by Byron, but the book downplays his significance as anything other than the emperor's rebel brother. (June)