In Joseph Fouché: Portrait of a Politician, Stefan Zweig crafts one of his most penetrating historical studies — a psychological biography of power, duplicity, and survival. With his unparalleled gift for portraying the inner motives behind historical events, Zweig turns his attention to Joseph Fouché (1759–1820), the enigmatic figure who served — and betrayed — every regime from the French Revolution to the Bourbon Restoration. From Jacobin to aristocrat, from the shadow of the guillotine to the salons of Napoleon’s Empire, Fouché is presented as the ultimate opportunist — a man whose political instinct was matched only by his absence of conviction. Yet Zweig’s portrait transcends simple condemnation. He reveals in Fouché a dark genius for adaptation, a man who understood the psychology of power better than any of his contemporaries, and who personified the moral ambiguity of an age in perpetual upheaval. Through vivid narrative and masterful analysis, Zweig transforms Fouché’s life into a mirror of political cynicism and human complexity. His prose, as sharp as it is compassionate, exposes the mechanisms of manipulation, fear, and ambition that define political life — not only in revolutionary France but in every era. The result is a timeless study of how intellect, self-control, and moral detachment can be both instruments of survival and agents of ruin. Enhanced by illustrations that bring the turbulent period to life, this edition of Joseph Fouché: Portrait of a Politician stands as one of Zweig’s greatest achievements in historical biography. It remains a haunting reflection on the price of success without integrity — and on the perilous art of mastering history while losing one’s soul.
