"I shall never, sir, be worthier . . . than I am now. I shall never cure myself of an impetuosity which is all the more dangerous because I believe its motive is sacred." -Napoleon Bonaparte, A Life of Napoleon Bonaparte by Ida Tarbell A Life of Napoleon Bonaparte; with a Sketch of Josephine, Empress of the French (1901) was the second of two biographies Ida Tarbell wrote about the French emperor. It details the life of one of history's greatest military and political leaders, from his earliest youth through his death in exile. Because the author spent several years studying in France, she had a very solid knowledge of French history, and this biography has been described as "definitive." It is also sufficiently fast-paced that the author herself called it "biography on a gallop."