The French Revolution and the Rise of Napoleon

Gr 9 Up—This book reviews the cataclysmic years of 1789–1799. Unfortunately, it's incomplete, inconsistent, and unbalanced. Davenport confusingly begins with Napoleon's Russian campaign and the 1815 Congress of Vienna. Not only are these happenings totally out of context, but they are also never mentioned again; only seven sentences in chapter 10 cover events from Napoleon's 1799 coup to his final defeat at Waterloo. Likewise, one of the two maps features post-Revolution battles (1805-1815), long past the title's scope. Davenport writes on a scholarly level, with difficult vocabulary, untranslated French terms, and overuse of the passive tense. There are numerous factual and grammatical errors, plus unexplained references, misspellings, and internal contradictions. Footnoting is sloppy. Finally, there is no glossary, the chronology is extremely abbreviated, and the index is limited.—Ann W. Moore, Schenectady County Public Library, NY