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A review by harlando
Lafayette in the Somewhat United States by Sarah Vowell
4.0
I like Sarah Vowell and I liked this book. It had been quite a while since I had read one of her books and I was happy to find that she was still as sharp, interesting, and witty as I remembered. Lafayette is a fascinating character who led an incredibly interesting life. His time in America was but one short part of that life, but he did a lot while he was here and it was in America that his reputation was built.
I learned a lot from the book that wasn't in my college US history classes or in any of several histories I have read since. Lafayette was just a 19 year old kid when he arrived in the US. He showed up amid a wave of other European officers looking for commissions in the continental Army. many of these were neither invited nor particularly wanted. That he was able to charm his way into says a lot about his personal magnetism. The fact that he was fabulously wealthy, closely connected to the king of France, and offered to work for free probably helped him just as much. He also had a young wife and infant daughter back in France. Vowell casts him as a bit callous for leaving them for what would turn out to be years. I had not thought of it that way and appreciate the perspective. I'm not sure if that indicates he was a bit self centered of that he was a typical aristocratic man of his time, but it probably wouldn't have occurred to me at all if she had not pointed it out.
She explores all of his time in America from the revolution to his return decades later. I had heard of Lafayette's tour of America in the 1820s. Many towns have plaques memorializing his visit, where he stayed, and where he spoke. However, I hadn't realized what a sensation he was. In terms of proportional crowd size he seems to have been one of the most popular people in American history. Huge crowds greeted him and listened to him speak and everyone wanted to meet him. From a modern American perspective it is amazing. I can't think of, and find it a little difficult to imagine, a modern figure who would be so universally popular.
It was a good book and I highly recommend it.
I learned a lot from the book that wasn't in my college US history classes or in any of several histories I have read since. Lafayette was just a 19 year old kid when he arrived in the US. He showed up amid a wave of other European officers looking for commissions in the continental Army. many of these were neither invited nor particularly wanted. That he was able to charm his way into says a lot about his personal magnetism. The fact that he was fabulously wealthy, closely connected to the king of France, and offered to work for free probably helped him just as much. He also had a young wife and infant daughter back in France. Vowell casts him as a bit callous for leaving them for what would turn out to be years. I had not thought of it that way and appreciate the perspective. I'm not sure if that indicates he was a bit self centered of that he was a typical aristocratic man of his time, but it probably wouldn't have occurred to me at all if she had not pointed it out.
She explores all of his time in America from the revolution to his return decades later. I had heard of Lafayette's tour of America in the 1820s. Many towns have plaques memorializing his visit, where he stayed, and where he spoke. However, I hadn't realized what a sensation he was. In terms of proportional crowd size he seems to have been one of the most popular people in American history. Huge crowds greeted him and listened to him speak and everyone wanted to meet him. From a modern American perspective it is amazing. I can't think of, and find it a little difficult to imagine, a modern figure who would be so universally popular.
It was a good book and I highly recommend it.