Napoleon and the British

From his earliest success as a young general until well after his death in exile, Napoleon Bonaparte was a source of fascination for Britons. In this engaging study, Semmel ""explores the ways in which Napoleon Bonaparte mattered for Britain"" over the course of roughly six decades, from 1796-1855. A self-described historian of British opinion, Semmel is less concerned with events than with British perceptions of them, and he draws on the full spectrum of political discourse about the ""Corsican Usurper"" for his research, from the most popular expressions (such as broadsides, pamphlets, patriotic songs and almanacs) to the most elite (i.e., newspapers, oil paintings and biographies). In so doing, Semmel finds that Napoleon served three broad ideological purposes for the British. First, he functioned as a lens through which Britons could examine larger political and social issues to dissect ""their own identity, constitution, and history."" Second, he served as a kind of blank screen onto which the British could project their anxieties about national decline, social unrest and their own ""sins"" of empire--such as India and the slave trade. Finally, ""Little Nap"" provided British radicals and reformers with a ""potent instrument with which to investigate the condition of British liberty... and to pick apart loyalist conceptions of monarchy and legitimacy."" Semmel adroitly navigates this complex ideological landscape, never letting the reader lose sight of the fundamental issues at stake (whether religious, socioeconomic, philosophical or political). Although the book will clearly appeal to academics who study 19th-century Europe, Semmel's portrait of a nation displacing its debates about domestic issues and anxieties onto an enemy may also intrigue readers with a more general interest in politics and history.