Napoleon: Emperor of the French by Charles Benson (review)

of spouses as a means of exploring courtship in the late Old Regime. It is truly fascinating to learn how Bernard de Bonnard and Sophie Sylvestre barely knew one another but agreed to marry for financial purposes. De Bonnard and Sylvestre developed a loving relationship. In contrast, Manon Philipon and Jean-Marie Roland chose to marry one another, had the consent of both their families, but failed to have a loving relationship. Goldman’s study thus challenges the long-held assumption that a marriage made from free choice would lead to a happy union. Complimenting Goldman’s article is “Family Affaires: Wives, Credit, Consumption , and the Law in Old Regime France” by Clare Crowston. Although from a different time period, her analysis of the links between the consumer revolution and a married woman’s access to credit immediately evokes Flaubert’s Emma Bovary. Crowston deftly demonstrates via her study of lawsuits over debts that married women had a great ability to spend money and run up huge debts. Julie Hardwick’s article, “Between State and Street: Witnesses and the Family Politics of Litigation in Early Modern France,” offers an alternate view to the one according to which separations came about because of a woman’s sexuality. Hardwick found that witnesses often pointed to the man’s adulterous or rowdy behavior rather than to the woman’s sexual weaknesses. In a similar vein, Jeffrey Merrick’s “Marital Conflict in Political Context: Langeac vs. Chambonas, 1775” shows how the Marquise de Chambonas and the Comte du Boscage lost their lawsuits not just because of their unacceptable behavior but more importantly because of their lawsuits’ political significance. Rounding out the collection are Christopher Corley’s “Gender, Kin, and Guardianship in Early Modern Burgundy” and Matthew Gerber’s “On the Contested Margins of the Family: Bastardy and Legitimation by Royal Rescript in Eighteenth-Century France.” While Corley examines how maternal kin (with the exception of noble families) played a more significant role than that of paternal kin in court proceedings, Gerber focuses on how family practices and boundaries were reconfigured. Specifically, while the Church and state shunned illegitimate children, the crown sold letters of legitimation to parents who wanted to recognize their illegitimate offspring, often to advance the possibility of an advantageous marriage or to preserve a family line. For those teaching a French culture and civilization course, Family, Gender, and Law in Early Modern France is a worthy resource. It helps to set the stage for understanding what occurred in France before and after the Old Regime, and fosters a greater appreciation for what predecessors desired in a civil society. Canisius College (NY) Eileen M. Angelini BENSON, CHARLES. Napoleon: Emperor of the French. Dublin, Ireland: Trinity College Dublin P., 2009. ISBN 978-1-871408-44-7. Pp. 24. 5,99 a. This book is the catalog of a scholarly exhibit at Trinity College Dublin in 2009, which this reviewer had the opportunity to see. All of the works on display, including first edition books, pamphlets, lithographs, and cartoons, were from the collections of the Trinity College Library. Illustrations from several of them are reproduced. The text by Charles Benson provides a comprehensive and equitable overview of Napoleon’s life, accomplishments, and failures. What makes this exhibit, and its accompanying catalog so interesting is the way they demonstrate how very differently Napoleon was viewed by his contemporaries on both Reviews 643 sides of the English Channel. About half of the works on display were printed or drawn in France, while the rest are from the British Isles. In his own country, Napoleon was depicted with adulation as a military genius and (all too rarely) peace-maker, as well as the propagator of the principles of the French Revolution throughout Europe. Of course, much of this writing and iconography were officially sponsored by Napoleon’s government and designed to serve as propaganda for the consular and then imperial regimes. Dissent from his policies and criticism of his actions were not encouraged, as was demonstrated by his silencing of Madame de Staël and others. Some of the works on display in Dublin are, however, authentic testimonies to his achievements, like the original 1804 edition of...