Naopleon's Little Red Book .. Maxims On Peace Thoughts on Society, Politics and the Art of Peace

The newly altered collection of Napoleon's War Maxims and Thoughts on Society and Politics was created by Monique Martin.  She is an artist focused on world issues. It was a call for art from @kanyerartcollection that inspired the artist to edit and reword the compendium from which a contemporary audience can learn about Napoleon's antiquated and patriarchal views.  The artist changed the focus from being more than just a soldier but rather to being a good human.  Many can benefit from seeing a transformation of the guiding principles and phrases. Not all phrases have been altered and many more could have been. The artist selected the phrases that worked with her design concept. She believes it to be useful to filter his thoughts through a gender-neutral lens that focuses on peace and harmony and not on domination and control.  The original author, L.E.Henry said the best way to learn is through careful and constant study.  Henry was well aware that great soldiers in the American Civil War and the Franco-Prussian war of 1870 had been much influence by their study of Napoleon although he lost. Monique believes that through careful and constant study of the world around us we can make good and positive choices for ourselves and others. 

Monique did not restrict her work to only his military matters. She affirmed that Napoleon's Social and Political thoughts contain some interesting and possible useful thoughts. Through the lens of time it is possible to see the statements as only a reflection of the status of women and social context. Despite Napoleon losing twice and being banished the original author believed that Napoleon was the best leader.  Soldiers of the time were influenced by the manipulation and xenophobic ways of Napoleon as much as they were by his writing.  All the maxims illuminate the mind of the man that can be described as a controlling, manipulative and narcissistic. 

Monique replaced patriarchal pronouns in the maxims with gender neutral ones. She replaced words to focus on empathy and caring for others. She also cross stitched over the words in the Art of War that were negative and violent, the artist has highlighted through imagery and words his ideas and maxims which sometimes had a misguided focus.  All he did was shift monarchies to imperialism and many suffered. The most stunning maxim for the artist is the one where he states people do not suffer from too little food but only from too much.

The altered book uses 99% percent analog collage. The phrases have been altered and placed so that the original phrase can still be read. The paper used for the new phrases is onion skin note paper from World War II. The original paper was used with carbon between the paper on a typewriter to send messages.