THE SECOND EMPIRE

by Octave Aubry ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 15, 1940

Aubry has a faculty for dramatizing and fictionizing history so as to make it readable, but inevitably he leaves one with a sense of there being a bit of playing with facts, coloring them for his own purposes. This is true once again in his story of Napoleon III, whom he sees as a much more sympathetic and able figure than history allows. Because of his name and delusions of grandeur, he went too far -- on too little. But allowing for that, he accomplished a great deal for Paris as a city, and he extended France to new prestige. He engaged in unnecessary wars -- the Crimean, the Italian involvements, the Mexican and Arabian fiasco -- and Bismarck proved his Waterloo. But according to Aubry, he was a forward figure for his times, a definite personality.

Pub Date: Oct. 15, 1940

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Lippincott

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1940

Categories: NONFICTION