In the book, Ribbe advances the thesis that Napoleon Bonaparte during the Haitian Revolution first used gas chambers as a method of mass execution, 140 years before Hitler and the Nazis.
In the early 19th century, Napoleon had reinstated slavery in the French colonies of Saint-Domingue (now Haiti) and Guadeloupe, these were subsequently hit by a series of massive slave rebellions.
The French newspaper France Soir, a populist tabloid, for instance, published a stinging editorial, calling the claims of the book insane.
The French historian Pierre Branda wrote a critical analysis of Ribbe's book, stating that it is mainly based on suppositions and that the sources are few and often quoted and referred to with heavy omissions.
The book was written in a context of social tension for the bicentenary of the Battle of Austerlitz and in the same timeframe as the Affaire Olivier Grenouilleau, where the author is strongly implicated.