Napoleon's Life After the Revolution

Napoleon's reading list was far more radical than men like Lafayette or Mirabow would have liked. If he hadn't been smart enough to keep some of his spicier, pre-revolutionary essays private, Napoleon may well have wound up arrested. When he joined the club at age 20, I think it's beyond doubt that Napoleon genuinely sympathized with Jacobin ideals. The degree to which he remained true to those ideals is a different discussion.