Napoleon's Library: The Emperor, His Books and Their Influence on the Napoleonic Era

According to this 19th-century interpretation, human history is the result of the actions of great individuals who—by dint of their intelligence, courage and creativity—altered the world around them.

It was thus a piece of writing, more than military acumen or martial genius, which secured Napoleon’s first exploit.

In Locke are to be found the seeds of self-government, human rights and religious liberty. Seeds which would go on to become the pillars upon which the Western World is built.

He remains the foremost architect of political liberalism.

John Barrow’s A New and Impartial History of England,

The Histoire is at the same time a historical, a political, and a philosophical work. It is historical because of the story it aims to tell— European colonialism—but also because of its core narrative questions: why are some countries more powerful than others?