Six years after the death of Napoleon, Sir Walter Scott wrote the first, hugely successful biography of his contemporary Napoleon that riveted Britain and the continent. It led to him being challenged to duels by former Napoleon generals. Originally covering over a million words, this edited edition gathers what is most interesting for the modern reader. Scott's thundering assault on Napoleon, inspired eminent writers such as Carlyle and Macaulay to engage with history and is a rare contemporaneous assessment that remains as fresh as it was then. Written before the advent of the nation state. Scott's travel narrative through post-Napoleonic Europe also provides a lost snapshot of a Europe that was still a patchwork of different local cultures and customs centred on cities and regions.