The Marquis: Lafayette Reconsidered

The Marquis de Lafayette at age nineteen volunteered to fight under George Washington and became the French hero of the American Revolution. In this major page-turning biography, Laura Auricchio looks past the storybook hero and selfless champion of righteous causes who cast aside family and fortune to advance the transcendent aims of liberty and fully reveals a man driven by dreams of glory only to be felled by tragic, human weaknesses. She recounts for American readers familiar with his role in the American Revolution how Lafayette navigated between his two lives in the nascent sister republics – one in France and the other in the United States –  and tells the fascinating story of the complicated leadership role he played in the French Revolution.  

Drawing on substantial new research conducted in libraries, archives, museums, and private homes in France and the United States, Auricchio, gives us history on a grand scale revealing the man and his complex life, while challenging and exploring the complicated myths that have surrounded his name for more than two centuries. This book was Winner of the 2015 American Library in Paris Book Award

Laura Aurrichio is a specialist in eighteenth-century French and American history and art who received her undergraduate degree from Harvard and her Ph.D. from Columbia University with distinction. Auricchio has been the recipient of fellowships and awards from the Fulbright Foundation, the Whiting Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and other organizations. She has taught at Princeton University and Connecticut College, served as a Vice Provost at The New School, and, from 2019-2024, as Dean of Fordham College at Lincoln Center and Professor of Art History at Fordham University. As of November 1, 2024 she serves as the Vice President of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. 

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