- Author: Mike Duncan
- Publisher: Format
- Published: August 24, 2021
This was one of my favorite books of the last few years. I’ve lived for over 20 years in the US South and seen Lafayette’s name everywhere. I didn’t realize before reading this book that the US was even more obsessed with him than I’d thought: places named “Fayette” are a tribute to him too.
Lafayette left his name across America, but the story of his role in the American Revolution takes up only about 100 pages of a 400+ page book. He comes across as the Forrest Gump of France, appearing at the center of every major event in France from the 1780s to the 1830s. So the book ends up as an excellent introduction to French history in that period, which includes the French Revolution, Napoleon, revolutions, restorations, wars, riots, and much, much more. Lafayette is there for all of it. He knows all the kings, all the French leaders, and the major American figures.
Mike Duncan writes really good, popular history. The book is super-readable. There’s no padding here. His subject did so much that editing the book down to 400 pages must have been a real challenge. And his subject comes across as admirable in an era with many villains. Duncan shows that he had major faults and could be naive, vain, and self-deluding. But his life was changed by the American Revolution and he spent the next 50 years trying to bring constitutional liberty to France. I came away from this book with an understanding of why the US admired him so much.