The Black Room at Longwood: Napoleon's Exile on Saint Helena

About this book

Like his subject Napoleon author Jean-Paul Kauffmann has experienced captivity as a three-year hostage in Beirut. He brings his insiders knowledge to this moving account of the most famous French soldiers last years in seclusion on a tropical island. After his defeat at Waterloo in 1815 Napoleon was exiled and imprisoned by the British on the island of St. Helena. He became increasingly withdrawn surviving on a diet of memories that he recounted to the few people around him. But the book -- part history part travelogue -- portrays the leader as a prisoner also of his mind poisoned by nostalgia for his triumphs and grief over his defeats. "A haunting unforgettable book....Kauffmann captures the desolate atmosphere of Napoleons last home with evocative precision." -- Boston Globe