Rating: 
Summary: Flimsy - doesn't measure up to Catherine
Review: Apparently the research on Josephine is flimsy, and so too is Erickson's characterization of the empress. She's vain, materialistic, none-too-bright, and appears to have a dental problem. That's about as deep as Erickson gets into her title lady. Disappointing mostly because I'd read Catherine the Great first, and was so impressed with the way Erickson made the people and the history so accessible and alive. I gave it a 3 because it was reasonably entertaining and I learned more about Napolean history here than all my college history classes. But don't count on gaining any great insights into the Empress.
Rating: 
Summary: Diary of a Rose
Review: By and large I prefer an unvarnished, streight forward history to an interpretive one, and Erickson's "Josephine, A Life of the Empress," is a little history with a lot of personal interpolation. I did however enjoy the book; it makes an interesting read, and pulls the reader along with the dash of a romance novel. Rose Tasher, the daughter of a failing suger plantation owner in Martinique, is pulled along by the forceful currents of her times, like a cork bobbing along in a stream. Her gift for self promotion and a flare for diplomacy carried her from a futureless life on the tropical island of her birth to a pampered if not terribly happy life as the Vicountess de Beauharnais, to that of independent courtisan, to wife of France's premire general Napoleon Boneparte, to Empress of France, and finally to honored icon of French nobility under the new Bourbon monarchy. She survived alive through the nightmarish years of the French Revolution, even escaping a death sentence after a long confinment in hellish circumstances during Robespierre's reign of terror. She did this through political connections she had cultivated earlier in her life. While her then estranged husband, Alexander, the Marquess de Beauharnais, who had been an active supporter of the revolution lost his head, essentially for his pedigree. From here on her talents for survival are tested to the limit by the shifting tides of political history. No matter what her position at any given time, Rose is able to make it safely to the winning side by virtue of having made influential friends willing to interceed for her during the turmoil and violence of each change in regime. Despite her relationship with Napoleon--at which time she assumes her new persona as Josephine--and her tenure as Empress, after his fall she is fortunate enough to be cultivated by the new monarchy as an icon of French nobility surviving the revolution. What is truely amazing, over and above her own survival of these times which spared no person and during which hardly a family in France had not lost several if not most members to the violence of each succeeding political change, is that she managed to keep her son and daughter alive and to promote their fortunes through her efforts. When one views the lady from the perspective of her times, one can hardly deny, even when one deducts for the creative license of the author, that Josephine Rose Tascher de Beauharnaise Boneparte was an amazing person.
Rating:
Summary: An Interesting Read - But Too Soft on The Empress
Review: Carrolly Erickson is a talented researcher and author, and her new biography on Empress Josephine is another very good read. I have a problem, however, with Erickson's habit of falling a little too much in love with some of her less admirable subjects. Josephine, while an exceptional character study, does not deserve the relentless emphasis Erickson places on her few redeeming qualities. Josephine was, in fact, a shallow and self-indulgent liar, swindler, whore, and manipulator extraordinaire. Although Erickson acknowledges these traits, she plays them down by repeatedly referencing Josephine's ingenuousness, compassion, and victim qualities, none of which are visible without Erickson's careful coaching. Erickson displayed this same oh-come-now-she's-not-so-bad-if-you'll-only-try approach with Mary Tudor ("Bloody Mary"). The book ended, appropriately, with Josephine's funeral. But I wanted to know what happened to her two children, Napolean's new wife, and even the loathsome Bonapart relatives. These were not peripheral characters; they were integral components of Josephine's life and a quick wrap-up sketch of each would have made the ending much more satisfying. I'm glad I read this book and recommend it to other biography and history lovers. Even so it's difficult to resist a spectacular kind of repugnance towards Josephine, notwithstanding Erickson's unfortunate and obvious urging to the contrary.
Rating:
Summary: Awesome book, would highly recommend
Review: Double edged sword: Don't get me wrong, this was an excellent book for facts! I was impressed by the sheer volume of knowledge at Erickson's hand. However, I had picked up this book to expand on my knowledge of the Good Josephine after reading Sandra Gulland's Josephine (Tales of Passion, Tales of Woe, etc) series, and found that Erickson's well-rounded descriptions of Josephine differed from the romantic depiction Gulland offered. Either read Gulland's Josephine trilogy, OR this biography by Erickson, but don't read both. Individually, they are excellent, but they do not complement each other well.
Rating:
Summary: Eh
Review: Double edged sword: Don't get me wrong, this was an excellent book for facts! I was impressed by the sheer volume of knowledge at Erickson's hand. However, I had picked up this book to expand on my knowledge of the Good Josephine after reading Sandra Gulland's Josephine (Tales of Passion, Tales of Woe, etc) series, and found that Erickson's well-rounded descriptions of Josephine differed from the romantic depiction Gulland offered. Either read Gulland's Josephine trilogy, OR this biography by Erickson, but don't read both. Individually, they are excellent, but they do not complement each other well.
Rating:
Summary: This Rose was no saint
Review: I found this a very enjoyable and lively biography of Josephine Tasher de Beauharnis. Josephine (or Rose, as she was called for most of her life), lived a life full of incredible changes. She went from poor colonial outcast to an aristocratic survior of the French Revolution, to end up as Empress of the French.This is not a dry biography, which is full of endless quotes. Instead, the author has researched the times Josephine lived in and tried to fill in the blanks on the situations her life choices were made in. These "guesses" as to Josephine's emotional state are made clear when not supported by direct documentry evidence. However, they do serve to bring the empress to life in this very interesting book. This is a book I enjoyed, and gave a good description of the world Josephine lived in and did it's best to give us the facts (not the fantasy) on her life.
Rating: 
Summary: I found this book empty and without interest.
Review: I found this book empty. There is nothing new. The author does not appear to have an in-depth knowledge of the characters and circumstances she describes. The description of landscapes, gardens, cities, in France as well as in Italy, shows that the author borrowed her ideas from works from previous authors. Please read the book "Josephine" written by Andre Castelot and compare!
Rating: 
Summary: Reads like a novel -- only better -- as it's history!
Review: I have read several historical biographies by Carolly Erickson, and enjoyed them. This one is no exception. It is easy to read and chock-full of historical information. I also recommend that if you can get your hands on copies of "To The Scaffold, The Life of Marie Antoinette" and "Mistress Anne, The Exceptional Life of Ann Boleyn," you definitely do so!
Rating:
Summary: A Great Throughly Researched Novel on the Life of Josephine
Review: I loved reading this book and couldn't put it down because it got me to know Josephine - Napoleon's first Empress. I was born on 8/15 which is also Napoleon's Birthday so I have several books in my library about him. Since there is not a lot written about Josephine except that she married a man; a minor official in the Court of Louis 16th who was eventually executed by the"Terror"; had two children with him; after his death she became popular and hosted a salon where she met Napoleon. Miss Erickson brought Josephine to life for me with teling her story from the time of her birth on a plantation in the West Indies to her death in a very entertaining and charming way. I would recommend this biography to anyone who enjoys reading the lives of famous women or French History.ERIN MARIE SULLIVAN
Rating:
Summary: Awesome book, would highly recommend
Review: I really enjoyed this book. I have read the author's other novels, and they were equally enjoyable. She is specific, and does not base her research on any other premise but the truth. She does not push any one argument, but is successful at covering a wide range of issues, while bringing Josephine to life. It was scary at times how Erickson made the reader question whether or not Josephine was in the room. Great write, and great book.
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