HISTORIC DOUBTS RELATIVE TO NAPOLEON, 1819 by Richard Whately

[InTheDesert]

I thought someone might have a good time with this short book. He's writing about Napoleon in the style that very sceptical Gospel critics of his time would write about the New Testament.

From Wikisource: "Written in 1819, while Napoleon Bonaparte was still alive, this piece of satire suggests that his existence is simply a hoax, based on muddled legends, contradictory accounts of battles, and a habit of assuming every shadowy figure in the distance with a distinctive hat must be the Emperor."
From Wikipedia: "a jeu d'ésprit directed against excessive scepticism as applied to the Gospel history"

https://archive.org/details/historicdoubtsr00what/page/n3/mode/2up

[mightyfelix]

This looks delightful. It is quite short, which would make it ideal for a first-time soloist, except that there are very few "built-in" section breaks. So the BC/soloist would need to find at least two or three spots to break it into sections. With a solo, this is easy to do as you go along. For a group reading, it would need to be decided in advance.

I saw at least two footnotes giving Greek quotations, but of course, footnotes are optional. I didn't see any other tricky foreign-language bits. I was expecting some French, actually.

I hope someone does decide to take this on. I'm not able to just now, and I don't see the opportunity opening up to me anytime soon.

[knotyouraveragejo]

Suggested by a listener:

Hello,
Is there any interest in doing Richard Whately's HISTORIC DOUBTS RELATIVE TO NAPOLEON, 1819? I might mention that it went into 14 editions in Whately's lifetime, and is an entertaining satire on David Hume's sceptical critique of religion.
Good wishes,
David

[InTheDesert]

Suggested here

[TriciaG]

I merged the two threads together.