A useful, if overwrought, narrative history of Napoleon's famous marshals — Ney, Davout, Masséna, Soult and the rest of them, told more-or-less chronologically. It's written in an old-fashioned, cavalier and opinionated style, with the author's judgments about the behavior of particular men or women flying freely and without justification. I definitely wouldn't accept Delderfield's judgments at face value, but for someone with a general knowledge of the period it can be a good overview. ( )

1035 Napoleon's Marshals, by R. F. Delderfield (read 29 Nov 1969) The author is British but his admiration for aspects of Napoleon permeates his books and is contagious. I found myself half-consciously "for" Napoleon all the way through this book. I suppose it is a grandeur, an air, a mystique: I do not know; but one must admire genius like Napoleon's. This book covers Napoleon by studying his 26 marshals: the 18 created in 1804 (Kellerman [the victor of Valmy in 1792], Lefebvre [who had charge of bringing Louis XIV and family back to Paris in 1791]; Perignon; Serurier; Berthier [Napoleon's chief of staff]; Murat [brother-in-law of Napoleon, King of Naples, superb cavalry leader, nutty show-off, who was shot in 1815]; Moncey; Jourdan; Massena [miser]; Augereau; Bernadotte [who became Crown Prince of Sweden and was present at the Battle of the Nations at Leipzig in 1813 with the enemies of Napoleon]; Soult; Brunne; Lannes [first to die of the 18, of wounds suffered at Essling & Aspern in 1809]; Mortier; Ney [the most famous marshal of all, shot on Dec 7, 1815]; Davout; and Bessieres; Victor, named in 1807; MacDonald, Marmont, and Oudinot, named in 1809; Suchet, named in 1811; St. Cyr, named in 1812; Poniatowski, named in 1813--and killed 40 hours later; and Grouchy, named shortly before Waterloo. It is a fantastic saga, the story of Napoleon, and my reading in the era has been a delight. ( )