Q&A with Author Louis Sarkozy

Louis Sarkozy is the author of the upcoming book Napoleon’s Library: The Emperor, His Books and Their Influence on the Napoleonic Era, and the co-author of “Une Envie de Désaccords” (Plonc, 2019)—written with his mother Cecilia Sarkozy—in his native French. He has published extensively in French and American media outlets on religion, politics, philosophy, and history. A graduate of the International Relations Masters program at American University in Washington D.C., Louis Sarkozy previously graduated from Valley Forge Military Academy and New York University with a double major in history and philosophy. His father, Nicolas Sarkozy, is an author and the former president of the French Republic.

Introduce yourself! Please tell us about you and your life, so we can get to know you better.

My name is Louis Sarkozy, and I am a 26-year-old Franco-American writer. I write history books, although I have published some articles on philosophy, politics, and religion. I live in Maryland with my wife and two dogs. We used to live in New York City but decided to move away and settle in the Great American suburbs. Although my wife misses the city, I try to convince her to move to rural Montana, where true happiness awaits us. The more I get older, the more I intend to flee cities.

Where did your interest in Napoleon begin? What inspired you to write this book?

My interest in Napoleon started with Andrew Roberts’s biography in 2014. As most French kids do, I read and studied about Napoleon as a child, but it was not until I read that superb biography that I realized the importance of the man and the era. I knew that he was a towering figure, and I knew he was a great general, but I had no idea of the breadth of his life and legacy. Roberts' biography, amongst many other things, shows the reader just how polyvalent and energetic the man was. 

So began a lifelong interest in the man and the era. I read, watched, and listened to anything I could get my hands on. Through this passion, I discovered that Napoleon had a little-known facet to his character: he was an obsessive, constant, and incredibly wide-ranging reader. Whether it was history, philosophy, theology, or music, Napoleon read it. So, I decided to dig deeper into the subject since we both shared a passion for reading.

Thanks to the enormous amount of primary and secondary sources that survived his life, it is quite easy to go pretty deep on a subject concerning him. What I discovered only deepened my interest in him as a reader. Not only did he read throughout his life, but literature and books, in general, came to play a pivotal role in his rise, his military campaigns, during his reign, and, finally, in his life as an exile in Saint Helena.

There are many other works concerning some aspects of Napoleon's literary life, but I had never seen a book that told the entire story of his relationship with books. So, I attempted to write a biography through the books he read and the literature that shaped him. Time will tell if I succeeded.

What is next for your career?

As for what is next for me, I will write a book on American history. The Napoleon book was meant for an English and American audience, and now my next book is meant for a French audience. In a way, I am cheating because I am writing about very well-known subjects to unfamiliar audiences! I have also applied to become an officer in the United States Army, and I hope this will go through. Only time will tell.

Who inspires you to be the best that you can be?

The heroes of the past inspire me every day. 

Tell us about your greatest career achievement so far.

For the purposes of selling books and to make my publisher happy, I will say that this book was my greatest career achievement.