Lafayette

In this gripping biography, acclaimed author Harlow Unger paints an intimate and detailed portrait of the heroic young French soldier, who, at nineteen, renounced a life of luxury in Paris and Versailles to fight and bleed for liberty -- at Valley Forge, and Yorktown. A major general in the Continental army, he quickly earned the love of his troops, his fellow commanders, and his commander, George Washington, who called him his "adopted son".

Lafayette convinced the French court to send a huge military and naval force to aid them in their fight for independence. And then he returned to America to lead the remarkable guerrilla campaign in Virginia that climaxed with the British surrender at Yorktown.

A passionate advocate of classical liberalism Lafayette returned to France dreaming of introducing liberal ideas to his own nation only to witness the ravages of the French Revolution instead. Declared an enemy of the state, Lafayette fled France only to be imprisioned by the Austrians for five years, whils his wife and her family festered in prison, awaiting the blade of the guillotine.

American ambassador, and future president, James Monroe won the freedom of Lafayette's wife and helped his son escape France and find refuge in the home of George Washington. But others in Lafayette's family were not so lucky.  Here is the dramatic story of an idealistic young liberal who decided one day to just get on a boat and come to America (aren't you glad the US didn't have the INS back then?) and help lead the country to freedom. Just a teenager when he made that decision he was soon made a general and quickly became a major force in American history.

Hardback edition, 452 pages, list price $30,00, OUR PRICE $19.95.

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