The Long Eighteenth Century
The Unruly City
Looking over past blog posts, I realize that I’ve reviewed a number of books about cities.* That’s because cities fascinate me: physically and culturally. I love exploring the infrastructures, neighborhoods, markets, hidden corners and distinctive styles of a new city. And I love books where the city itself is a central part of the story.…
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Napoleon in Egypt, Part 2
Napoleon’s Egyptian campaign was a military disaster,* but the Army of the Orient wasn’t the only army that Napoleon brought with him to Egypt. A commission of some 160 savants–scientists, artists, engineers, and scholars–accompanied the invading army, bringing with them virtually every book on Egypt available, dozens of crates of scientific instruments and a printing…
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And Speaking of Napoleon in Egypt…
While writing my last blog post I was stunned to realize that I’ve never written about Napoleon’s invasion of Europe here on the Margins. I’ve hinted around the edges of the subject in posts on the Rosetta Stone and Tipu Sultan. But I’ve never written about the invasion itself. Which is kind of amazing given…
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