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| The Emperor's Last Island |  | Author: Julia Blackburn
Publisher: Minerva
Category: Book
Buy Used: $4.96
Rating:  8 reviews
Sales Rank: 6055023
Media: Paperback
Pages: 256
ISBN: 0749399589
EAN: 9780749399580
ASIN: 0749399589
Publication Date: July 2, 1992
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: SHIPPED SAME DAY FROM UNITED KINGDOM USING PRIORITY AIRMAIL, SUPER FAST SHIPPING - AVERAGE DELIVERY TIME 7-12 DAYS TO USA. ALL BOOKS IN GOOD OR BETTER CONDITION. VISIT OUR eSHOP FOR MORE GREAT BARGAINS.
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
After his defeat at Waterloo in 1815, Napoleon was exiled to the island of St. Helena--"further away from anywhere than anywhere else in the world," writes Julia Blackburn, who describes the final years of Napoleon's life on this remote rock in the South Atlantic Ocean, where he died in 1821. A handful of quarreling sycophants accompanied him during his exile, all vying for favors and tolerating the former general's constant cheating at card games. Meanwhile, a contingent of British soldiers kept him under close observation. They feared that he would escape, but an attempt was never made. Interestingly, Blackburn disputes the theory that Napoleon was assassinated by arsenic poisoning. She adds details of her own trip to the island, which continues to serve as a bleak outpost of the British Empire. It was apparently once a place of great natural splendor, but early visitors cut down its trees, which loosened the soil for the eroding winds; the island never really recovered. A few maps and photos would have helped, but this unique book deserves attention from all Napoleon fans.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 3 more reviews...
 Hauntingly evocative, beautifully written book... August 5, 2008
C. J. Sturz (NC United States)
A "magically idiosyncratic collage of history, biography and travel writing" (The Times), Blackburn's book touched me very deeply. Her portrayal of Napoleon, one of the mightiest and most famous men of history, as a fat, pale, short middle-aged man condemned to live out his life in loneliness, boredom, absurdity, and despair (and great physical pain in the end) makes for compelling reading. However, other portions of the book were to me equally touching: the story of Fernando Lopez, a Portugese nobleman condemned to torture and disfigurement, and finally self-imposed exile on the island for a treasonous crime, who (with the help of gifts) transformed St. Helena into an oasis of extraordinary lushness and beauty; the savaging and disfigurement of the island in later ages; the quietly awful decline that holds sway over it today. Blackburn weaves personal childhood and travel anecdotes into her story, lending it a further poignancy and immediacy. Beautifully done!
A personal, elliptical meditation on life February 9, 2002
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
This book is not easy to classify y part biography, part memoir, part essay. After Napoleonys final defeat at Waterloo, the British exiled him to the remote South Atlantic island of St. Helena, where he lived the few remaining years of his life. This book, written in the early 1990s, consists of the author's sensitive and insightful musings on Napoleonys life and death on the island, the relations between him and others in that most unnatural setting and those most unnatural circumstances, the history of St. Helena, the world of Napoleonic studies, the author's visit to St. Helena, and much else. The book is very elliptical and personal, and is perhaps best described as an extended meditation by Blackburne on life and human relationships as displayed in these events. Hard-core Napoleon fans and others looking for a straightforward narrative are likely to be disappointed (though I suspect that more insight into Napoleon's character can be gleaned from this book than from any more prosaic narrative). The book will appeal to readers who enjoy an intimate conversation with a thoughtful woman who, taking as her point of departure the unique and timeless spectacle at the core of the book, has much to say about all of us.
 Disappointing September 25, 1999
5 out of 12 found this review helpful
I was really disappointed in this book. What the author did not understand, and probably never will, is that the readers are not the least interested in her life or the lives of her children or husband. I am not in any way interested in her own impressions about St Helena, I am not interested in the Island's history or geography or what others might have thought about it. It is Napoleon that concerns me and when I purchased the book I though it would be about Napoleon's journey to the Island and his last days there. Instead it was the author's journey to the island in the 90's and her own days , which does not interest me and I doubt if it would be interesting to anyone bet herself. It was a real disappointment.
I have seen Napoleon face to face. September 8, 1999
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
I have dined off his fine china and watched him play with the children of his initial host on the island. I have been transported through time and space, a reaction I have had only rarely. Ms. Blackburn has created a reality worthy of attention. The aura of the house, the luminosity of Napoleon's complexion and the thinking of his English overseers are only a part of that reality. The prose is clear and compelling. The past, the natural history of St. Helena and Ms. Blackburn's present day doings complement one another. On the map, St. Helena is as much "in the middle of nowhere" as any place on earth. And Ms. Blackburn makes going there an enlightening journey.
This is full of interesting details, also historical errors September 1, 1999
4 out of 6 found this review helpful
I read with fascination the details on Napoleon's last exile. But the historical erros threw me off. He arrived on St. Helena in 1815, not 1814. His birthday was August 15th, not August 17th. His second wife's name was Marie Louise, not Marie Teresa. With all these easily confirmed facts in error, I wonder what else is inaccurate.
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