7/24/2023 0 Comments The hero of the two worldsAnd Duncan’s review of Lafayette’s actions from Brandywine to Yorktown are fascinating. The circumstances of Lafayette’s birth, social status and childhood are particularly well explained. There is much to enjoy in this biography and even readers unfamiliar with the French Revolution will appreciate the ride. The book’s final section reveals his role in post-revolutionary France, observing the peak of his popularity as well as his precipitous fall from grace. Next, the narrative follows Lafayette for a decade through the French Revolution and into Austria as a prisoner-of-state. The first covers Lafayette’s childhood and his participation in the American Revolution (when he was just in his early twenties). This biography is organized into three sections of roughly equal length. And Duncan adeptly treats readers to a bird’s-eye view of these two events from Lafayette’s perspective…if not quite through his own eyes. But Lafayette’s life in France – during its decades of political upheaval and revolution – was no less significant. And despite the complexity of Lafayette’s times and travels, it is consistently comprehensible and engaging.Īnyone who has observed Lafayette through the lens of the Revolutionary War appreciates how consequential his early years in America were. With a 436-page narrative that exudes an almost casual aura, readers will find Duncan’s biography uncommonly coherent and accessible. Later, as an inspirational figure in France’s own revolution, he became known as the “Hero of Two Worlds.” But a strong drive to prove himself led the orphaned teen to America where he became a valuable member of George Washington’s Revolutionary War staff. Born into “second-class” nobility, Lafayette’s life was expected to be one of comfort and ease. The Marquis de Lafayette (1757-1834) is a vaguely familiar historical figure to many Americans. His related book “ The Storm Before the Storm: The Beginning of the End of the Roman Republic” was published in 2017. Duncan is a popular history podcaster whose award-winning series “ The History of Rome” ran from 2007 to 2013. Mike Duncan’s “ Hero of Two Worlds: The Marquis de Lafayette in the Age of Revolution” is the most popular biography of Lafayette and a New York Times bestseller. The Marquis de Lafayette in the Age of Revolution
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |