David Lawday is a British journalist for the international magazine The Economist. His latest book is a delightful narrative on a complex and extraordinary figure in French diplomacy and warfare.

Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigord is a figure who understood that winning the peace is part of winning the war. Through language and subtle influence he attempted to rein in Napoleon Bonaparte, worrying that with each conquest came guerilla warfare and problems in maintaining the French Empire. Aside from acting as Napoleon’s foreign minister, Talleyrand, as an aristocrat, survived the French Revolution and had a part in writing the famous French document The Rights of Man.

Born in 1754, Talleyrand suffered from a club foot that he dragged around with him throughout his life; his childhood was oppressive as he was hidden away from view by his parents. An uncle saved him, sponsoring his entrance into the church. His childhood experiences seemed to have allowed him to empathize with the plight of the poor and disadvantaged, and as an aristocrat and bishop, he would endear himself to the key leaders of the French Revolution, allowing him to escape the Reign of Terror and the guillotine. This lead to exile, first in England, and then in the United States.

The book details Talleyrand’s rivalry with the American minister to France, Gouverneur Morris. Morris was the cause for George Washington’s snubbing of Talleyrand when he arrived in 1795. Yet Talleyrand and Alexander Hamilton became close and discussed economic policy at great length. Talleyrand returned to France in 1796 with the rise of Napoleon, who appointed him Foreign Minister.

He served in this capacity and much more, stage-managing Napoleon’s coronation as emperor and even running supplies to Napoleon’s army at the Battle of Austerlitz. Talleyrand was at the center of the XYZ Affair, in which he demanded a bribe from the United States under the John Adams administration. Talleyrand was also involved in America’s greatest land deal, the Louisiana Purchase, in what began as a deal to purchase New Orleans.

Perhaps Talleyrand’s greatest service to France was negotiating not once, but twice to keep the country from being carved up by the grand alliance amassed against Napoleon. The book contains surprises such as Talleyrand’s rivalry with Joseph Fouche, Napoleon’s minister of police that would, through Talleyrand’s subtlety, morph into an alliance to control Napoleon’s ambitions and keep order after his second exile at the conclusion of the battle of Waterloo.

‘‘Napoleon’s Master” is a well-written narrative with many lessons about maintaining peace after war and the complexities of high diplomacy.

Editor’s Note: Aboul-Enein writes for two U.S. Navy base papers, the Naval Training Center Great Lakes Bulletin and the Naval District Washington Waterline. He also maintains a regular column in the Air Force Base newspaper, the Bolling Aviator. He wishes to thank Personnel Specialist 1st Class (SW⁄AW) David Tranberg, president of the Pentagon Chapter of the First Class Petty Officer’s Association for his edits that enhanced this review.