A Hero of Two Worlds: The Marquis de Lafayette in the Age of Revolution
By Mike Duncan
Published by Public Affairs (August 24, 2021), Paperback – $18.99, 512 pages
Paperback edition
Kindle edition
Reviewed by Martin Davis and Craig Vasey
History – and in particular biography – in the hands of amateur historians can be a dangerous thing. More given to adoration than analysis (see Eric Metaxis’ fatally flawed biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, for example); pablum than probing (see Carl Sandburg’s study of Lincoln), these want-to-be historians usually lack the skills or breadth of understanding to grasp the subjects and the periods that they write about.
Every now and again, however, a writer rises from the LeBrea Tar Pits that ensnare so many amateur historians – biography and the Great Man model of history – and does the world a favor by humanizing and making understandable the characters who fill our imaginations.
Such is the case with Mike Duncan. A fishmonger from Seattle turned historian, Duncan approaches one of America’s least-understood characters, the Marquis de Lafayette, and introduces him both as a player in the American Revolution, and the revolutions of Europe.
Duncan knows who and what he is. A gifted writer and a marvelous storyteller who loves history. He doesn’t try to break ground or offer analysis that could rival Howard Zinn or Henri Pirenne. Rather, he lets the characters speak for themselves.
Readers will breeze through the book’s 500-plus pages, while learning that fate does favor some over others. Lafayette’s rise to wealth was a trifecta of family deaths, fortunate moves, and being introduced to just the right girl at the right time.
From the battlefields of America, to his conflicts with Napoleon, Duncan breathes life into Lafayette, and gives Americans a better understanding of just how connected the world is. And in so doing, he reminds us – whether consciously or not – that America is not so much a Shining City on a Hill, as it’s a stone that’s been polished to a high gloss by the thoughts and hands of people the world over.
Though this work is now two years old, it’s an appropriate time to read it. For next year, the city will be celebrating the 200th anniversary of Lafayette’s visit to Fredericksburg.
To commemorate and celebrate this visit in 1824, a committee of citizens has been at work for several months now, basing their planning on a pamphlet from 1899 that details Lafayette’s time in the city. The pamphlet, apparently, was authored by an ancestor of Mayor Mary Catherine Greenlaw.
Led by Lisa and David Durham, the committee includes representatives from the Fredericksburg Area Museum, the George Washington Foundation, the Fredericksburg Sister City Association, the Masonic Lodge, St George’s Church, HFFI, the National Park Service, Mary Washington House, and UMW Museums.
FAM will open an exhibit on Lafayette in March 2024, and will sponsor the first in a series of monthly lectures about Lafayette that will run through the year. During the weekend of November 23-24, 2024, with support from the American Friends of Lafayette – which is organizing a nation-wide 13-month long tour of the 24 states Lafayette visited – Fredericksburg will host a re-enactment of Lafayette’s arrival in the city (with military escort), his welcome at Market Square and the old City Hall, a Ball in his honor (at Fredericksburg Square), and his visits to St. George’s and to the Masonic Lodge.
All events (except the Ball) will be free and open to the public, and information about them will be posted at FXBGadvance.com.
