After crowning himself Emperor in May 1804, Napoleon appointed 26 men Marshals of the Empire, a position he created to honor his most important generals. He encouraged competition among them for titles and for wealth, but above all, for glory. Only instead of creating a team of rivals, as Lincoln so famously did, he forged a nest of vipers. Andrew Roberts, who has a gift for capturing flawed heroes in all their vitality and self-delusion, invites us into the lives and loves of these elite warriors, whose rivalries shaped the fate of Europe.

The best-known modern interpretation of George III is Jonathan Groff's preening, spitting and pompous take in “Hamilton.” But this deeply unflattering characterization is rooted in the prejudiced and brilliantly persuasive opinions of 18th-century revolutionaries like Thomas Paine and Thomas Jefferson, who needed to make the king appear evil in order to achieve their own political aims. After combing through hundreds of thousands of pages of never-before-published correspondence, award-winning historian Andrew Roberts has uncovered the truth: George III was in fact a wise, humane and even enlightened monarch who was beset by talented enemies, debilitating mental illness, incompetent ministers and disastrous luck.

Taking us from the French Revolution to the Cold War, Andrew Roberts presents us with a deeply insightful look at nine major figures in modern history: Napoleon Bonaparte, Horatio Nelson, Winston Churchill, Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, George C. Marshall, Charles de Gaulle, Dwight D. Eisenhower and Margaret Thatcher. Each one of these leaders fundamentally shaped the outcome of the war in which their nation was embroiled. In what ways were they alike, and in what ways did they differ? Is war leadership unique, or did these leaders have something in common, traits and techniques that transcend time and place and can be applied to the fundamental nature of conflict?

When we seek an example of great leaders with unalloyed courage, the person who comes to mind is Winston Churchill: the iconic, visionary war leader immune from the consensus of the day, who stood firmly for his beliefs when everyone doubted him. But how did young Winston become Churchill? What gave him the strength to take on the superior force of Nazi Germany when bombs rained on London and so many others had caved? In CHURCHILL, Andrew Roberts gives readers the full and definitive Winston Churchill, from birth to lasting legacy.

Andrew Roberts’ NAPOLEON is the first one-volume biography to take advantage of the recent publication of Napoleon’s 33,000 letters, which radically transform our understanding of his character and motivation. At last we see him as he was: protean multitasker, decisive, surprisingly willing to forgive his enemies and his errant wife, Josephine. Roberts traveled to 53 of Napoleon’s 60 battle sites, discovered crucial new documents in archives, and even made the long trip by boat to St. Helena.