Before the shattering of the Napoleonic empire in 1815, Count Las Cases had served loyally for many years in the council of state. However, his most important service was to come after he followed his Emperor into exile on St. Helena. During his time with Napoleon on the "Rock in the Atlantic", he was to write down all that he heard from the Emperor's mouth, as clear a stream of his thoughts and reminiscences as were ever recorded. He was to eventually publish these entries as the "Memoirs of the life...", also known as the Memorial de St. Helene. They stand as a classic not just of the history of Napoleon's times, but also of the history of the first year of his banishment. Ranging from his earliest days in Corsica to the ranging battlefields of his career, Napoleon speaks through these pages as in no other of the sources left to us today. Essential reading and the birth of the Napoleonic legend

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