Bonaparte’s “Angels”

When last we parted, Bonaparte had just seized power in France, prevailed by the skin of his teeth at Marengo and invented a chicken dish named for the day’s battle.

This class will cover Bonaparte’s ascent to Olympian power, his fateful decision to invade Russia, his decline, comeback, ultimate fall and exile to lonely St. Helena. But we won’t spend the entire time amid the thrills of victory and the agonies of defeat. We’ll take time to regale ourselves with vignettes from the picaresque lives of Bonaparte’s three (all younger) sisters, Elisa, Caroline and Pauline. These ladies were not shrinking violets! If a medieval monarch had had sisters like these three, he would have locked them up in a convent. God love ‘em, their historical interest is exceeded only by their entertainment value.

Peter Baylor is offering his fifth course. He is, among other things, a septuagenarian husband, father, grandfather, friend, sibling, veteran, son (forever grateful to his parents), retired lawyer and working tour guide. Peter borrowed this line from a college professor: “I do not propose to teach you anything; I am trying to share an enthusiasm. OK?”