Joachim Murat: A Portrait In Letters Paperback – 8 Nov. 2022

This was long overdue. Too often, both in German and British books on the Napoleonic era, Murat is portrayed as a tragicomic figure, useless when not on horseback, vain and haughty, eccentrically dressed, with very limited mental faculties, who owed his whole position, both politically and militarily, to his brother-in-law and never had the skills to really fill it.Murat's own words do offer a very different perspective. Yes, it's all there. The vanity, the insistence to see his position and rank respected, even a certain naivety in political matters that made him, when he tried his hand at it, a rather clumsy and insecure intriguer. But there is so much more to this man, and that's what his own words, preserved in these letters, offer to the reader today. Above all, his extreme emotionality, his ability to love with all his heart (most obvious in the letters to his children and a huge difference to his famous brother-in-law), his good education (originally probably better than Napoleon's), his varied interests, and, despite his rather naive and emotional approach to political matters, an ability to clearly and correctly assess a situation, and to act in accordance with it.It also shows a man who, in the end, almost tore himself apart between the love for a country he had adopted, and the love for the country he had been born in and fought for all his life, a country that then chucked him out and let him perish.Murat's letters are not always an easy read, because he also seems to want to prove all prejudices against Gascons correct and often shows himself rather verbose, meandering from one topic to the next and occasionally contradicting himself. But that, too, is part of this fascinating character and his sometimes endearing, sometimes enfuriating personality.I'm very glad I read this book and recommend it wholeheartedly.

This book is awsome. It gives great insights on how Murat lived through his life and through events that we see filtered by Napoleon's vision, like the spanish campaign. It is also very emotional in the letters the marshal sends to his family. It's very well noted so you don't risk losing a character on the road. In few words, i loved it.