Walks Through Napoleon and Josephine's Paris

• Board book - 30 November, 2003 - The Little Bookroom
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• By: Diana Reid Haig
• ISBN: 1892145251

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Reviews by readers

Fascinating and useful: a delightful book!

Diana Reid Haig has produced a delightful book that is at once fascinating and useful. She tells short anecdotal stories of Napoleon and Josephine and their times while showing us beautiful photographs of the places they would have known and then showing us how to find them. No one who is interested in Napoleon should ever visit Paris without consulting this book, and even those who will never set foot on the Champs-�lys�es will enjoy thumbing through its pages and reading Haig's well-written little vignettes of one of history's most famous love stories.

The book is organized into four "walks," which generally correspond to Napoleon's early career and meeting of Josephine, life as First Consul, the coronation, and the return of Napoleon's body in 1840. To these she adds a tour of Fontainebleau and Malmaison, two places where Napoleon and Josephine lived. Each walk comes with a map that clearly shows the major places she discusses as well as shops and other areas of interest. The maps are easy to follow and a dotted line traces her suggested route. A map of Paris showing where in the greater scheme of things these maps fit would have been useful, but any visit to Paris will be enhanced by this book.

One of Haig's most endearing qualities as a writer is her ability to provide interesting and useful information in a way that both informs and entertains. Throughout her book we hear of some of the standard discussions of Napoleon and Josephine, such as her affair and their near breakup after his Egyptian campaign. But we also are given brief glimpses into their daily lives and their relationship with the buildings that we can see on her tours. Haig also includes interesting "side boxes" on topics the basics of which are common knowledge but the unknown details of which can be quite interesting. For example, we all know of Napoleon's famous hat, but from Haig we learn that he ordered four a year as First Consul and later had at least fifty ordered from his hatter, Poupard, who charged exorbitant rates. Indeed, Haig presents enough interesting history that a scholarly reader is left wishing she had provided references.

This wonderful little book is like none other that I have seen. It is beautifully produced and well written. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in seeing and understanding Napoleon and Josephine's Paris.

J. David Markham, Author
Napoleon's Road to Glory: Triumphs, Defeats and Immortality
Imperial Glory: The Bulletins of Napoleon's Grande Arm�

A beautiful blend of words and art....

Diana Reid Haig's beautiful, well researched book is invaluable on two levels; as a work of art and as a practical walking guide. Walks Through Napoleon and Josephine's Paris will interest Francophiles as well as those who love history and art. This extremely readable history of Napoleon and Josephine chronicles the rise and fall of the doomed couple--a history which is also inexorably linked with the history of France and the French Revolution.

A blend of words and art, Haig's book is wonderful to page through, but is also a great read. I recommend this work to both armchair travelers and frequent visitors to Paris. This book is a brilliant new way to see and enjoy Paris.

History becomes three-dimensional

I had the delightful privilege of hearing Mme. Haig read from her book at the French Institute in New York which in turn, plunged me into an exuberant frenzy to learn as much as I could about Napoleon and even more so - Josephine. Mme. Haig's writing comes from a genuine passion about her subjects and is wonderfully researched, with fascinating detail. Should you be travelling to Paris with a teenager, this book could ignite a passion in them as well about history before Britney Spears' first marriage.

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