{"product_id":"the-marquis-lafayette-reconsidered","title":"The Marquis: Lafayette Reconsidered","description":"\u003cp\u003eA major biography of the Marquis de Lafayette  French hero of the American Revolution  who  at age nineteen  volunteered to fight under George Washington; a biography that looks past the storybook hero and selfless champion of righteous causes who cast aside family and fortune to advance the transcendent aims of liberty and justice commemorated in Americas towns  streets  parks  and schools named after the French nobleman. Laura Auricchio gives us a rich portrait of the man  fully revealed  a man driven by dreams of glory and felled by tragic  human weaknesses.  In The Marquis  we come to understand the personal struggles  social quandaries  and idealistic visions that inspired an orphaned young man to cross an ocean and fight a war that was none of his concern; we see a guileless provincial whose unexpected inheritance allowed him to marry into the highest echelons of the French aristocracy  and become a self-consciously awkward presence at the palace of Versailles. Here is the young Lafayette  removed from the French army as a result of sweeping reforms  trapped in a gilded cage until American emissaries reached Paris seeking support for their revolution. In the American cause  Lafayette  whose only vision had been of martial glory  saw a way to reach his dreams  and seized it with gusto. Americans welcomed him with open arms  and he returned their affection fully. His American clat was so brilliant and his enthusiasm so great that he quickly became the symbol of the Franco-American alliance that ultimately defeated Great Britain.  We see how Lafayettes reputation rose to great heights during the American Revolution but collapsed during the French; that when the Bastille fell on July 14  1789  Parisians hailed Lafayette as the French Washington and appointed him commander of their National Guard  hoping that he would be able to restore order to a city wracked by starvation and violence. As revolutionaries hurtled in radical directions and staunch monarchists dug in their heels  Lafayette lost control  remaining steadfast in his belief that the French monarchy needed to be reformed but not abolished  and doing everything in his power to prevent an American-style republic from taking root in his native land. Formerly seen as Frances heroic figure  Lafayette was now viewed as opportunistic  a dreamer  and a traitor to his nation--and today remains a murky figure in French memory.  In America  Lafayettes momentous departure from his homeland for the War of Independence has long been hailed as the start of an extraordinary career to be celebrated for generations. In France  it is often seen as just one of his many misbegotten undertakings. Yet no one has managed to offer a satisfactory answer to the crucial question of why: Why did Americans shower Lafayette with so much acclaim in his own time that he remains a hero today  being named an honorary U.S. citizen in 2002becoming only the seventh person ever granted this distinction? And why  in contrast  does his memory continue to be denigrated in his own land?  Auricchio  drawing on substantial new research conducted in libraries  archives  museums  and private homes in France and the United States  gives us history on a grand scale as she answers these crucial questions  revealing the man and his complex life  and challenging and exploring the complicated myths that have surrounded his name for more than two centuries.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44984539021365,"sku":"ByrdShop_0307267555","price":29.58,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780307267559.jpg?v=1770836511","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/the-marquis-lafayette-reconsidered","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}