Publishers Weekly
05/10/2021
Podcaster Duncan (The Storm Before the Storm) casts the Marquis de Lafayette as a levelheaded reformer with a “restless yearning for glory and fame” in this comprehensive and accessible biography. Orphaned at a young age, Lafayette was only 19 when he crossed the Atlantic to volunteer in the American Revolution, where he was wounded in the Battle of Brandywine and commanded his friends Alexander Hamilton and John Laurens in the decisive Battle of Yorktown. After returning to France, Lafayette advocated for moderate reforms to “keep the flame of liberty burning just hot enough to melt the ancient chains of feudal despotism, without accidentally burning the whole kingdom down.” His support for a constitutional monarchy drew criticism from radicals and conservatives alike, and in 1792 Lafayette fled the country to escape execution, only to spend five years imprisoned in Austria and Prussia. Following the restoration of the monarchy in 1814, Lafayette was elected to the Chamber of Deputies and toured the U.S. as “a living legend—a pristine icon of the most glorious days of the Revolution.” During the July Revolution of 1830, he took command of the National Guard and endorsed Louis Philippe d’Orléans’s claim to the throne. Though short on analysis, Duncan marshals a wealth of information into a crisp and readable narrative. This sympathetic portrait illuminates the complexities of Lafayette and his revolutionary era. Agent: Rachel Vogel, Dunow, Carlson & Lerner. (Aug.)
From the Publisher
My favorite history book I’ve read this year so far!"—Jeff Glor, CBS This Morning: Saturday
“Pleasingly informal….Duncan’s biography is written in a loose, colloquial style that sometimes startles with its informality but more often delights with its directness.”—Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker
“Mr. Duncan’s ‘Hero of Two Worlds’ offers, in readable prose, much informative description alongside measured interpretation. The author’s sympathetic yet balanced and sensible rendering, some may think, mirrors Lafayette’s eventful life in a revolutionary age.”—The Wall Street Journal
“[I]n an age of self-indulgent polemics, deranged conspiracy theories, and pervasive disinformation, to listen to Duncan while washing dishes or folding laundry is to believe that facts are knowable, that historical events of immense complexity can be made legible, and—to attempt to answer the question with which I started this review—that history is made neither by singular individuals nor by social forces, but by the idiosyncratic interplay of decisions within well-placed vanguard classes….This is the kind of detail-oriented storytelling that Duncan excels at.”—The New Republic
“An immensely compelling biography of Lafayette and a disquisition on the limits of bourgeois liberalism.”—Jamelle Bouie, The New York Times
“Mike Duncan has dug deep into the world of revolutions, and the richness of detail in this book is beguiling. But Mike’s superpower is his storytelling skill. Hero Of Two Worlds hooks you from page one with humor, a sly perspective and a page turning narrative drive worthy of a life like Lafayette’s.”—Rian Johnson, award-winning filmmaker
“Duncan displays impressive skill in keeping his Lafayette an admirable figure…. An outstanding account of an almost impossibly eventful life.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred
“Engrossing… Duncan effectively balances Lafayette the man with Lafayette the public figure and helps delineate the relationship between the United States and France….His impressive biography provides an insightful look at the American Revolution that can be appreciated by history lovers and general readers alike.”—BookPage
"Mike Duncan’s excellent, well-researched book portrays Lafayette’s extraordinary life as a fascinating, transatlantic drama with three great revolutions and transitional interludes that carry the reader through seven explosive decades of historical change. The hero of this drama plays starring public roles in the American Revolution and the French Revolutions of 1789 and 1830. But Duncan weaves the people, conflicts, and legacies of these vast public events into stories about a personal life that was always entangled with complex family networks and multi-generational friendships as well as a loving marriage and emotionally-charged relationships with other women."—Lloyd Kramer, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and author of Lafayette in Two Worlds: Public Cultures and Personal Identities in an Age of Revolutions
“Lafayette gets his due in this magisterial biography.” —Parade.com
“Comprehensive and accessible…. Duncan marshals a wealth of information into a crisp and readable narrative. This sympathetic portrait illuminates the complexities of Lafayette and his revolutionary era.”—Publishers Weekly
"Historian and popular history podcaster Duncan brings Lafayette to center stage in a carefully researched biography… [he] offers solid historical research in a hip, humorous, and appealing voice." —Booklist
“This is just great writing. Duncan really knows how to assemble a compelling story and with Lafayette he has an amazing subject with which to work. Restores some of the well-deserved luster to the Frenchman’s historical reputation.”—Dan Carlin, host of Hardcore History
"I first learned of Mike Duncan's work when a prominent politician told me he'd been addicted to his podcast on the French Revolution, and found it startlingly relevant in 2021. Duncan's work is a reminder that history can also be a gripping yarn full of compelling characters, and in Hero of Two Worlds he brings alive one of the great characters of American history."—Ben Smith, New York Times
“Duncan reintroduces a celebrated hero….A highly readable biography of a committed liberal activist caught up in the fickle political passions of revolutionary extremism, violence, and war. Like Duncan's previous work, this book is engaging and accessible.”—Library Journal
"All listeners of The History of Rome and Revolutions – as well as readers of The Storm Before The Storm — know the joy of Mike Duncan guiding them through epic, operatic moments in western history. Now Duncan has zeroed in on his perfect subject, a towering figure through whom Duncan can explore and even upend the birth of political liberalism. Duncan has reintroduced the Marquis de Lafayette for a whole new generation, bringing him to life with all his passions, contradictions and hypocrisies. Never mind the Broadway musicals, here's the Hero of Two Worlds." —Spencer Ackerman, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author of Reign of Terror: How The 9/11 Era Destabilized America and Produced Trump
"Mike Duncan's ability to weave a rich and compelling story is on full display in Hero of Two Worlds. He takes the reader on a gripping roller-coaster ride that follows the Marquis de Lafayette's fortunes through decades of victory, defeat, and revolution on two continents… Duncan has an exceptional eye for both human potential and human fallibility, grasping the qualities that make figures like Lafayette real, three-dimensional people, simultaneously victims of circumstance and active participants driving forward the course of history. Hero of Two Worlds is biography and narrative at its best, an informative page-turner crafted by a master of historical storytelling."—Patrick Wyman, creator of Tides of History and author of The Verge: Reformation, Renaissance, and Forty Years that Shook the World
Library Journal
07/01/2021
Best-selling author (The Storm Before the Storm) and podcast host (The History of Rome) Duncan reintroduces a celebrated hero whose name may be common knowledge but whose life story is not. Using French and American archives, Duncan narrates the long career of the Marquis de Lafayette (1757–1834) as he fell victim to changing times and political perceptions. This biography is especially powerful because it looks at the last third of Lafayette's career and moves beyond more well-publicized stories of the American and French Revolutions, to discuss activities in Napoleonic and post-Napoleonic European politics. Also of interest is Duncan's careful dissection of Lafayette's growing abolitionist sentiment, his role in debates over manumission after the American Revolution, and his fascination with "wild schemes" to set up French and American plantations to be staffed by newly freed Black tenants. His deep friendship with George Washington, love affairs, family ties, and late-in-life liaison with early feminist Fanny Wright are among the fascinating details that make this such an outstanding read. VERDICT A highly readable biography of a committed liberal activist caught up in the fickle political passions of revolutionary extremism, violence, and war. Like Duncan's previous work, this book is engaging and accessible.—Marie M. Mullaney, Caldwell Coll., NJ
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2021-06-29
A new biography of the giant of both European and American history.
The Marquis de Lafayette (1757-1834) did not fade away after the American Revolution. Instead, he loomed large on the world stage for decades after the war, and history podcaster Duncan does a fine job of filling out his subject’s life. Among the richest men in France, Lafayette sailed to America in 1777 at age 19 to join the rebellion, seeking mostly adventure. Anxious to smite France’s traditional enemy or simply find work, many Frenchmen did the same, but Lafayette didn’t exaggerate his military experience and made no demands on George Washington, who was charmed. Lafayette became a trusted lieutenant who fought the British, lobbied French leaders to support the rebellion, and entered the pantheon of Revolutionary heroes. Duncan tells this story in the first third of the book. Only 24 when the British surrendered, Lafayette returned to France to participate in efforts to reform the crumbling French economy. As commander general of the National Guard, he was a leading figure early in the French Revolution. When the Terror began in 1792, he fled to Austrian territory to escape arrest but was treated as a dangerous revolutionary and imprisoned for five years. Although freed by Napoleon, Lafayette disapproved of the military leader’s autocracy and retired from politics—until the monarchy’s restoration in 1814, when he again became a voice for liberal ideals. He opposed the Bourbons’ increasingly reactionary policies and supported the 1830 revolution that placed Louis-Philippe on the throne, but Lafayette found him a disappointment. Duncan displays impressive skill in keeping his Lafayette an admirable figure despite painful limitations. More energetic than intelligent, he was not ahead of his time. Popular histories extol his abolitionism, but this developed later; he had no objection to slavery while serving under Washington. His lack of personal ambition was unaccompanied by proficiency in France’s cutthroat politics, so his influence never matched his popularity.
An outstanding account of an almost impossibly eventful life.
