Searching for some insight on Paul Johnson (I like reading him but he annoys me and I'm never sure I should trust him) I came across this review of his little book on Napoleon by Victor Davis Hansen. Well, it was on the Claremont Institute site so what did I expect but to read: 'So what accounts for those who professed beauty but worshipped evil?' Which is a legitimate question but also an editorialization that ignores the complexities of human beings and the times they find themselves living in. Naturally, Hansen senses a kinship with the author of Intellectuals.
But I got stuck on this statement concerning the French Revolution: 'Lest we think Napoleon perverted the French Revolution's idealism, we should remember that he in some sense embodied the very brutality of that entirely unnecessary event.' This perhaps offhand comment - and yes, I am making too much of it - seems odd for a professional historian. The fact of a historical event's lack of necessity is beside the point.
Can anyone name an event that was necessary?
Posted by Bobby Farouk at December 11, 2004 06:53 AM