For Liberty and Glory, James R. Gaines
For Liberty and Glory, James R. Gaines
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For Liberty and Glory
Washington, Lafayette, and Their Revolutions

Author: James R. Gaines

Narrator: Norman Dietz

Unabridged: 21 hr 22 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 10/29/2007


Synopsis

They began as courtiers in a hierarchy of privilege, but history remembers them as patriot-citizens in a commonwealth of equals.

On April 18, 1775, a riot over the price of flour broke out in the French city of Dijon. That night, across the Atlantic, Paul Revere mounted the fastest horse he could find and kicked it into a gallop.

So began what have been called the "sister revolutions" of France and America. In a single, thrilling narrative, this book tells the story of those revolutions and shows just how deeply intertwined they actually were. Their leaders, George Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette, were often seen as father and son, but their relationship, while close, was every bit as complex as the long, fraught history of the French-American alliance. Vain, tough, and ambitious, they strove to shape their characters and records into the form they wanted history to remember. James R. Gaines provides fascinating insights into these personal transformations and is equally brilliant at showing the extraordinary effect of the two "freedom fighters" on subsequent history.

About James R. Gaines

James R. Gaines is a longtime journalist, magazine editor, publishing executive, media consultant, and author. He has been the editor of Time, People, and Life, for which he also served as publisher. His books, works of cultural history, include Wit's End: Days and Nights of the Algonquin Round Table and Evening in the Palace of Reason, which explores the conflict between faith and reason through a fateful meeting between Johann Sebastian Bach and Frederick the Great. He lives in Paris.


Reviews

Goodreads review by MICHAEL on July 06, 2013

A remarkable work. An examination of the American and French Revolutions focusing on the lives of Washington and Lafayette; their personal and political relationship, their influence on one another, and how that in turn influenced each country's history. Very well written; the personalities and the......more

Goodreads review by Bárbara on November 10, 2018

It's not the best book about Lafayette that I've encountered (that honor belongs to Adopted Son), but it was thorough and interesting.......more

Goodreads review by Dale on July 11, 2020

A must read if you are a student of the American Revolution and the early years of America's independence. Published in 2007 by W.W. Norton and Company. First a bit of traditional blogging. I was going through some old receipts because I had plenty of time on my hands thanks to the Coronavirus lockdow......more

Goodreads review by Scotty on April 18, 2024

I have had the privilege of reading several Washington books, and if I cut out sections of out each book and pasted them into one book I'd have this book. I am absolutely opposed to historical books using, on several occasions in this book, "he might have said" or "was supposed to have written" or "......more

Goodreads review by Lee on September 22, 2021

What’s better than a biography of George Washington and a biography of the Marquis de Lafayette? How about both in one volume? The author’s admirable objective of telling the public lives of these two great men is only half of his goal. The other approach is to compare and contrast the two, illustrat......more