Napoleon's Master: A Life of Prince TalleyrandBorn into the high aristocracy, where rank meant more than wealth, Charles Maurice de Talleyrand Perigord was to become one of the great politicians of all time. His early career in politics was marked with turmoil: a liberal who saw the need to curb the powers of the monarchy, Talleyrand fled from France when the violence of the revolution turned extreme in 1792, first to England and then to the United States. It was not until his return to France