Hero of Two Worlds chronicles the life of the Marquis de Lafayette, a French noble and soldier who would find fame in the American Revolution, fall from prominence in the French Revolution, and close out his life as the champion of the July Revolution*. In it, podcaster Mike Duncan presents a fair-handed portrait of America's French Founding Father.
The book itself is the product of Mike Duncan's second podcast, Revolutions, which remains my favorite of all time. Duncan has said that he chose Lafayette as his subject because his life encapsulated so many important events across the Atlantic. Duncan refers to this as the Atlantic Revolutions (1776-1917), but others call it the Early Enlightenment. From the drama of Valley Forge, to escorting Louis XVI to Paris, to the Hundred Days of Napoleon Bonaparte, Lafayette was there for all of it.
I dare you to find me a book with a better supporting cast. Because he found himself at the center of world shaping events, his acquaintances are all the heroes of other stories. Yes, he danced with Marie Antoinette (badly) and made camp with Washington at Valley Forge. However, you also get the vulgar Prussian-American commander, Von Steuben; real-life Game of Thrones character, Talleyrand; and the most comically inept politician in history, Polignac.
Lafayette had a consistent view of what he believed to be liberty, which he carried with him his entire life. The only exception being slavery, a position he would pivot on sharply between the American and French Revolutions. Both of these things are important reminders. Lafayette never gave up on what he believed as an idealistic young man, only tempered them through experience (with live gunfire). Secondly, that historical figures are not, and were not perfect heroes. They were just as flawed and capable of being wrong, sometimes more so, than we are today. Which is why I recommend Hero of Two Worlds to both casual and intermediate history enthusiasts.
*The second French Revolution in July, 1830. It was followed by a second uprising in June, 1832, a.k.a. the one from Les Misérables.
