As many know, I am a Ph.D student in Early American History, which means I have to reads a lot of books on historical events.
All the books are are assigned in Graduate School were written by Ph.Ds, which is great, but Ph.D. writers do not always write for the broad audience, but tend to write for other Ph.Ds.
So, I decided I needed a break from reading, what many would say boring Ph.D books on history, and read, what is commonly called a “hobbyist” book. That basically means it was written by a non-Ph.D. writer of history that is for a broad audience, which is not confined to graduate level readership.
I chose Mike Duncan’s book, Hero of Two Worlds: The Marquis de Lafeyette in the Age of Revolution, which traces the famed Maquis de Lafeyette. That was his title of nobility in France, not his real name, which was Gilbert du Motier, but was called just Gilbert until his father died when he took up the name the Marquis de Lafayette.
Ole Gilbert, which Duncan writes about in his book, was a quiet man, who kept mostly to himself, which, even though he was rich, made him an awkward potential husband, however, his father and mother died when he was a child. That made him a rich bachelor at a young age, so rich families wanted their daughters to marry him.
He gets married to a 14yr old Marie Adrienne Francoise de Noailles, who were the richest family in France. Lafayette was 16yrs old. Adrienne becomes his rock that keeps his house in order during many years away, and is very brave in her own right. More definitely should be written about her. Duncan does touch on some of her heroism, which is immense.
The book traces Lafayette going to America as they were in the grips of Revolution in the 1770s to prove himself as a warrior since King Louis XVI cut him out of the military. He befriends George Washington, Jefferson, Hamilton, Madison, and many others while fighting on the Patriot side during the Revolution.
Lafayette becomes an abolitionist, and after he returns to America in the 1780s, he tries to convince Washington and others to free their slaves to no avail. He does get the freedom of James Armistead, who was a double agent, working for the Patriots during the war, and directly reported to Lafayette. It took two years, which makes Lafayette realize, Americans weren’t even willing to free black Revolutionary War veterans from slavery easily, so it would be very hard to get slavery ended in America. Indeed, it took a civil war for it to happen.
He later returned to France a hero, but was thrown into the French Revolution.
The book then goes into sheer genius as the book goes deep into details of the French Revolution, which tore down thousands of years of noble, religious, and royal dominance the left the poor unable to survive.
The most surprising part of the book was how much Washington, Jefferson, James Monroe, and other American legends influenced the young Lafayette during the French Revolution.
Duncan lived in France for 3yrs in order to write the section on the French Revolution, Lafayette’s part in it, and the aftermath. This part of his writing is pure genius.
Duncan traces the French Revolution through Napoloean, the return of the King from the House of Bourbon, to the overthrow of King Louis XVIII, to his cousin’s coup, and then the French Republic in 1846. Lafayette, in the meantime, was the luckiest man alive since he was captured outside of France and sent to prison, but was not returned to France to get beheaded, which the new radical French government wanted to do to Lafayette since he was seen as friends with the King.
I highly recommend this book. It is a page turner. I read the whole book in less than two days. It was so good, it read like a movie, and couldn’t put it down.
As many know, I am a Ph.D student in Early American History, which means I have to reads a lot of books on historical events.
All the books are are assigned in Graduate School were written by Ph.Ds, which is great, but Ph.D. writers do not always write for the broad audience, but tend to write for other Ph.Ds.
So, I decided I needed a break from reading, what many would say boring Ph.D books on history, and read, what is commonly called a “hobbyist” book, which basically means it was written by a non-Ph.D. writer of history that is for a broad audience, which is not confined to graduate level readership.
I chose Mike Duncan’s book, Hero of Two Worlds: The Marquis de Lafeyette in the Age of Revolution, which traces the famed Maquis de Lafeyette, which was his title of nobility in France, not his real name, which was Gilbert du Motier, but was called just Gilbert until his father died when he took up the name the Marquis de Lafayette.
Ole Gilbert, which Duncan writes about in his book, was a quiet man, who kept mostly to himself, which, even though he was rich, made him an awkward potential husband, however, his father and mother died when he was a child, which made him a rich bachelor at a young age, so rich families wanted their daughters to marry him.
He gets married to a 14yr old Marie Adrienne Francoise de Noailles, who were the richest family in France. Lafayette was 16yrs old. Adrienne becomes his rock that keeps his house in order during many years away, and is very brave in her own right. More definitely should be written about her. Duncan does touch on some of her heroism, which is immense.
The book traces Lafayette going to America as they were in the grips of Revolution in the 1770s to prove himself as a warrior since King Louis XVI cut him out of the military. He befriends George Washington, Jefferson, Hamilton, Madison, and many others while fighting on the Patriot side during the Revolution.
Lafayette becomes an abolitionist, and after he returns to America in the 1780s, he tries to convince Washington and others to free their slaves to no avail. He does get the freedom of James Armistead, who was a double agent, working for the Patriots during the war, and directly reported to Lafayette. It took two years, which makes Lafayette realize, Americans weren’t even willing to free black Revolutionary War veterans from slavery easily, so it would be very hard to get slavery ended in America. Indeed, it took a civil war for it to happen.
He later returned to France a hero, but was thrown into the French Revolution.
The book then goes into sheer genius as the book goes deep into details of the French Revolution, which tore down thousands of years of noble, religious, and royal dominance the left the poor unable to survive.
The most surprising part of the book was how much Washington, Jefferson, James Monroe, and other American legends influenced the young Lafayette during the French Revolution.
Duncan lived in France for 3yrs in order to write the section on the French Revolution, Lafayette’s part in it, and the aftermath. This part of his writing is pure genius.
Duncan traces the French Revolution through Napoloean, the return of the King from the House of Bourbon, to the overthrow of King Louis XVIII, to his cousin’s coup, and then the French Republic in 1846. Lafayette, in the meantime, was the luckiest man alive since he was captured outside of France and sent to prison, but was not returned to France to get beheaded, which the new radical French government wanted to do to Lafayette since he was seen as friends with the King.
I highly recommend this book. It is a page turner. I read the whole book in less than two days. It was so good, it read like a movie, and couldn’t put it down.
