Mark Braude

Most of us are familiar with Napoleon Bonaparte's history of war and conquest. Once he was banished in 1814, to the island of Elba in the Mediterranean our interest in him tends to wain until he once again shows up in France in 1815, looking for a fight. This book details that year of exile and I do mean details. The author gives an almost day by day depiction of what it was like for Napoleon during his time on this less than idyllic island. Napoleon, the man who achieved domination of over half of Europe was relegated to a tiny island and it's lack luster community that had nothing to recommend it. A couple of hundred pages into the book I was as ready to get off that island as was Napoleon. Even the comings and goings of his various family members and any number of visiting sycophants could not dissuade Napoleon from fomenting a plan to get the heck off that island and back to France no matter what the consequences might be. The author has done a fine job of documenting this time of Napoleon's life and gives us some good insights into the man and his times. Book provided for review by Amazon Vine.… (mere)

It turns out that the story of Monte Carlo is damn fascinating. Or Mark Braude is a damn fine writer. Or both.

His intriguing history of how Monte Carlo became the world's first super-casino and playground for the wealthy makes for fascinating reading. But this isn't light pop-history; Braude's account is an extensively researched and thoughtful work of history. This is a historian in command of both his subject matter and his prose. Indeed, there's a full cast of the rich and famous, but the real star of the story is Monte Carlo itself. I was enthralled by its financial history -- and the rogues, gamblers, and shrewd businessmen who built it essentially from scratch after gambling was legalized in 1855.

I knew very little about Monte Carlo before reading this book, other than stray mentions in books and viewings in films and television. And now I know much more . . . and had fun along the way.

(Thanks to Simon & Schuster for an advance copy via a giveaway. Receiving a free copy did not affect the content of my review.)… (mere)

The Making of Monte Carlo is more accurately the Making of the Monte Carlo casino with the first part of the story following the Blanc brothers from their gambling pursuits to the creation of the casino to help ease Monaco’s financial troubles. Then it follows a trend that is universal in tourist areas, the locals vs the interlopers, in this case the Monegasque vs the French. The final part is the establishment of Monte Carlo as Europe’s premier resort, from WWI, which it operated as a neutral area, to the jazz age, which hopefully means that there will be another book that takes it to present day.

Free review copy… (mere)