The Napoleonists: A Study in Political Disaffection 1760-1960 by E. Tangye Lean - 1970

Oxford, London, 1970. First Edition. Hardcover (Original Cloth). Near Fine Condition/Near Fine. map end-papers showing Kensington in 1822; In England during the Napoleonic wars a number of prominent persons openly preferred Napoleon to George Ill. Among them were Byron, Hazlitt, William Godwin and Leigh Hunt, Charles James Fox, Lord and Lady Holland, the German Princess Caroline, the actress and novelist Mrs. Inchbald, and Samuel Whitbread. The English Napoleonists had all, as Tangye Lean shows, in their childhood been isolated from the main body of the community by its rejection of their fathers. All grew up committed to opposition. Admiration of Napoleon was only the most obvious response of a whole armoury of devices by which they defended themselves against any new threat from the majority. They all formed 'rival courts' of their own, which they ruled as dictators; they allied themselves with animals and outcasts, with the past and the future, and with victims oppressed by the central community and exotic tyrants who challenged it. They were by nature mercurial, with a gift for languages, a passion for foreign travel, and a strain of violence which exploded in their speech and tempted them to suicide. They were also generous benefactors and dedicated reformers. In an absorbing narrative section Mr. Lean traces the careers and opinions of Napoleon's leading English admirers, as well as those of certain obscure persons who were tinged with Jacobinism when they settled in a square on the outskirts of London built, it was rumoured at the time, by an agent of Napoleon. He then draws, from the histories public and private of these individuals, a composite portrait of the Napoleonist. And in a brilliant final section he brings the portrait to life in our own day, in such neo-Napoleonist figures as Lloyd George, Kingsley Martin, Kim Philby, and Burgess and Maclean.  Size: Large Octavo. 402 pages. Binding is tight, covers and spine fully intact. Dust Jacket is in as new condition, apart from normal shop shelf wear - contains no tears or chips or other damage. Dust Jacket un-clipped. Top edge dusty. Gilt titles spine. red cloth; illustrated by b/w. drawings with colour & b/w. plates. Includes index & notes on sources. Quantity Available: 1. Shipped Weight: Under 1 kilogram. Category: History; Politics & Government. ISBN: 0192151843. ISBN/EAN: 9780192151841. Pictures of this item not already displayed here available upon request. Inventory No: 3553. . 9780192151841