Review by New York Times Review
THE FULL NAME was Marie-Joseph-Paul-Yves-Roch-Gilbert du Motier, which was quite a mouthful for Yankee sensibilities, but the Marquis de Lafayette became one of the first American celebrities anyway. (The new nation had a sweet tooth for the flattery of Frenchmen. That's also how Tocqueville managed to freeload his way across the Northwest Territories.) Lafayette came over the Atlantic to fight in the American Revolution when he was 19. He went home to France and tried to be a centrist politician during that country's upheaval. This was rather like aspiring to be a pot roast in a den of wolverines. But he survived the Revolution and the Terror, turned down a job in Napoleon's government, and in 1824, he returned to the United States at the invitation of James Monroe. He visited all 24 of the states at the time. The tour took more than a year, and Lafayette was cheered at every stop. He survived the sinking of his steamboat in the Ohio River, and lived to help lay the cornerstone of the Bunker Hill Monument in Charlestown, Mass. He also survived an oration by Daniel Webster on that same occasion. Now comes Sarah Vowell to bring the Marquis back for another tour of the continent. Today, we have television historians. ("Tell us, Doris/Michael/Douglas: How does Bobby Jindal remind you of Burton Wheeler?") We also have martial historians, who provide the raw material for Tom Hanks to make yet another mini-series about the heroic efforts of white people. And then we have Vowell, who is an ambling historian. In her latest, "Lafayette in the Somewhat United States," Vowell wanders through the history of the American Revolution and its immediate aftermath, using Lafayette's involvement in the war as a map, and bringing us all along in her perambulations - with occasional side trips to such modern phenomena as Colonial Williamsburg, the many protesters who have flocked to Lafayette Square across from the White House and Vowell's curious fascination with, and fascinated curiosity about, Quaker historians. She encounters one of the breed while visiting the Brandywine Valley, where Lafayette once served with distinction even after having been wounded, and Vowell uses the episode to give a shrewd précis of what she's about generally. "Having studied art history, as opposed to political history, I tend to incorporate found objects into my books," she writes. "Just as Pablo Picasso glued a fragment of furniture onto the canvas of ?Still Life With Chair Caning,' I like to use whatever's lying around to paint pictures of the past - traditional pigment like archival documents but also the added texture of whatever bibs and bobs I learn from looking out bus windows or chatting up the people I bump into on the road." There is an obvious risk in this approach. First of all, it is a very narrow footbridge across the Gorge of Eternal Cuteness that the author has to walk. Second, it is very easy to imbue every stray thought of the strangers who sit next to you on the bus with an unearned profundity simply because you don't know who they are. (This happens a lot during presidential elections, like this one, when reporters get off the bus and talk to Regular Americans. Bad journalism has been known to ensue.) It is greatly to Vowell's credit that she fairly skips across the gorge, and that she shows rare good judgment in the strangers whom she shares with her readers. Her prose sparkles. It is not glib, even when she is referring to George Washington's cashiering of Gen. Charles Lee on the field at the Battle of Monmouth - "Go to the rear, sir," Washington commanded, and sent Lee off with a remarkable torrent of obscenity - and wondering why Fort Lee got named after an obvious poltroon, and then connecting that to the fact that Fort Lee was the target of the Bridgegate affair, which has sent Chris Christie to the rear of the Republican presidential order of battle. This reads not as a stretch but, rather, as somebody fashioning a braid of past and present, and doing it with a wink. CHARLES P. PIERCE is a writer at large for Esquire and the author of four books.
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [January 5, 2016]
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Vowell's jocular and cheerfully irreverent account of Marquis de Lafayette, the teenage French general who became an unlikely hero in the United States during the Revolutionary War, proves both insightful and amusing. Her combination of well-researched, obscure details; personal anecdotes; and references to recent events adds plenty of sparkle to an old tale. Vowell enlists the aid of an impressive array of comedians and television stars to add color and variety to the audio edition. Mad Men actor John Slattery, for example, gives voice to Lafayette, while comedians Nick Offerman and Patton Oswalt play the roles of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, respectively. Unfortunately, because these historical characters speak only through quotes in the text and not full dialogue, the listening experience can be a bit disjointed. A Riverhead hardcover. (Nov.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Here Vowell (Assassination Vacation) tells the story of the general of the Revolutionary War, but she also seeks to delve into the importance of the overall French contribution to the American war. Vowell mixes strong and sometimes quirky historical detail with research travelog and snark. Not one for hagiography, Vowell reminds listeners for instance that even as he was setting out to fight for American freedom on his own livre, Lafayette left behind a pregnant teenaged wife. The author reads her work with the same sarcastic deadpan she has used as a contributor to the radio show This American Life. She is joined in her narration by such modern comedy greats as Nick Offerman, John Hodgman, and Patton Oswalt. -VERDICT This brief but detailed work on Lafayette and the Revolutionary War is both accessible and fun. Highly recommended for those looking for a little history, or just an entertaining listening experience. [-"Vowell's lively, droll style will attract readers to this cleverly crafted, well-researched book": LJ 9/1/15 review of the Riverhead hc.]-Tristan M. Boyd, Austin, TX © Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Another Vowell-ian romp through history, politics, and pop culture, this time revisiting the story of Lafayette, the French contributions to victory in the American Revolution, and his farewell tour through the United States in 1824. Readers of Vowell's previous books (Unfamiliar Fishes, 2011, etc.) will recognize yet another pleasantly snarky work that belongs on any shelf of first-rate satire. Her peripatetic research techniques remain: visit the sites, walk the ground, read the books, talk with relevant folks (here, she recounts her chat with a Lafayette impersonator at Williamsburg). Vowell also continually yanks us back to the present, commenting sharply on such things as our current political polarization. The "sweet-natured republic Lafayette foretold," she writes, hasn't exactly occurred. Vowell also uses slang and clich as light artillery, deploying them so that shells explode expectedly. When she writes that Lafayette was trying to put the toothpaste back into the tube, we laugh as well as learn. Vowell takes some bayonet thrusts at religious fanatics, at the current American right, and at the brainless hatred of all things French during the Gulf War (despite the fact that the French saved us at Yorktown). Although she focuses principally on the war years, she does cover, lightly, Lafayette's 1824 returnand (rare for her) misses an opportunity to mention that young Edgar Allan Poe, at 15 a member of the Morgan Riflemen, participated in the celebrations in Richmond. Several times, the author mentions the British spy Maj. John Andr but neglects to note his spectral appearances in "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." But she doesn't miss much else. Vowell reminds us of George Washington's early failures in the war (and of those in the government who wanted to replace him) and that there used to be an "Evacuation Day" in New York City to celebrate the departure of the British. An enlightening and entertaining blend of history and edged attitude. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
