Lafayette in the Somewhat United States by Sarah Vowell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I didn’t really know what to expect when I started this book; it’s gotten good reviews and I do read a lot of history, but the book has no index and no table of contents. The text is not divided into chapters, there are no photographs or footnotes. What kind of history book is this?
Well, it’s a fun read. It’s kind of a stream of consciousness approach to telling the story of the Marquis de Lafayette during the American Revolution and something of his return visit to the United States in 1824. The story is told in more or less chronological order and we follow the teenaged Lafayette as leaves France to join the Continental Army and become the trusted subordinate of George Washington. There are flash-forwards to Lafayette’s tour of the new nation in 1824, and along the way the author is not shy about comparing making comparisons to the way Congress now operates, or how nothing really seems to have changed in politics in 200 years. And for good measure she throws in a few stories of her experiences as she retraces Lafayette’s journey.
Yes, it’s a fun book to read and at the end of it, you realize that you’ve actually learned something. I definitely recommend this book.