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Title: Subjective and partisan
Review: Schom assures readers that his biography of Napoleon is objective and non-partisan because being American frees him of the prejudices, for or against, Europeans would feel for the subject.Unfortunately he doesn't deliver, instead he always qualifies the many facts in the book: Napoleon, his family, and his supporters appear as the "devious so-and-so" or the "piratical such-and-such"; while Napoleon's enemies are "adversaries" or "unlucky victims" or "hapless innocents".This is annoying in a supposedly impartial book. Schom should have toned down his attacks, and frankly admitted his dislike of the subject. Napoleon is and will remain controversial. Schom could have easily made a case against Napoleon without resorting to mere rhetoric. As it is, it feels like he wants to lure his readers into his camp.One star for the impressive list of facts, and that's all.
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