LAURA AURICCHIO
July 26
2016
6:30 PM
Winner of the 2015
American Library in Paris Book Award
THE MARQUIS:
Lafayette Reconsidered
An “absorbing” (The Wall Street Journal ), “sharp and moving” (Kirkus, starred review), "astute and often thrilling reconsideration" (The New Yorker) of the Marquis de Lafayette, French hero of the American Revolution: Laura Auricchio’s THE MARQUIS: Lafayette Reconsidered (Knopf, October 2014 / Vintage, August 2015) looks past the storybook hero who cast aside family and fortune to advance the transcendent aims of liberty and justice commemorated in America’s towns, streets and parks that bear his name. Auricchio gives us a rich portrait of the man from birth to death, a man driven by dreams of glory and felled by tragic, human weaknesses.
“Absorbing . . . well-written, well-furnished . . . An excellent account.”
- Frederick Brown, The Wall Street Journal
“In a sharp and moving biography, Auricchio captures the essence of the ‘French hero of the American Revolution—the Hero of Two Worlds, the Apostle of Liberty.’”
“Laura Auricchio has managed to bring the Marquis de Lafayette back to life, replacing the rather wooden figure of legend with the real man, a hero of two great revolutions, the American and the French, and man of great complexity and unfailing courage. An immensely rewarding book.”
- Michael Korda - author of Clouds of Glory
“[A] fine biography. . .Lafayette still deserves more attention in France, but he’s found just the right American biographer in Auricchio.”
