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Lafayette in the Somewhat United States
Lafayette in the Somewhat United States
Lafayette in the Somewhat United States
Audiobook8 hours

Lafayette in the Somewhat United States

Written by Sarah Vowell

Narrated by Sarah Vowell, Alexis Denisof, John Slattery and

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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About this audiobook

From the bestselling author of Assassination Vacation and Unfamiliar Fishes, a humorous account of the Revolutionary War hero Marquis de Lafayette—the one Frenchman we could all agree on—and an insightful portrait of a nation's idealism and its reality.

On August 16, 1824, an elderly French gentlemen sailed into New York Harbor and giddy Americans were there to welcome him. Or, rather, to welcome him back. It had been thirty years since the Revolutionary War hero the Marquis de Lafayette had last set foot in the United States, and he was so beloved that 80,000 people showed up to cheer for him. The entire population of New York at the time was 120,000.

Lafayette's arrival in 1824 coincided with one of the most contentious presidential elections in American history, Congress had just fought its first epic battle over slavery, and the threat of a Civil War loomed. But Lafayette, belonging to neither North nor South, to no political party or faction, was a walking, talking reminder of the sacrifices and bravery of the revolutionary generation and what they wanted this country to be. His return was not just a reunion with his beloved Americans, it was a reunion for Americans with their own astonishing singular past.

Lafayette in the Somewhat United States is a humorous and insightful portrait of the famed Frenchman, the impact he had on our young country, and his ongoing relationship with some of the instrumental Americans of the time, including George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, and many more.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateOct 20, 2015
ISBN9781442391093
Lafayette in the Somewhat United States
Author

Sarah Vowell

Sarah Vowell is a contributing editor for public radio's This American Life and has written for Time, Esquire, GQ, Spin, Salon, McSweeneys, The Village Voice, and the Los Angeles Times. She is the author of Radio On, Take the Cannoli, and The Partly Cloudy Patriot. She lives in New York City.

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Reviews for Lafayette in the Somewhat United States

Rating: 3.8997523688118814 out of 5 stars
4/5

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  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    Has almost nothing to do with Lafayette. Instead, you hear the author's opinions on modern problems in her own whiny voice. She sounds like a college freshman delivering a History 101 presentation and her opinions are not much further developed than that either. Typical modern complaining about how bigotted and unfair people used to be but how enlightened she is. Almost nothing to do with Lafayette or American history, stay away for your own good.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    PLEASE tell me this gets better? As much as I really want to hear ths story...I CANNOT get over the author's narration!! It's like the audio version of watching paint dry. Flat, no emotion, no inflection whatsoever. I couldn't listen past the first 15 minutes. Good luck to all who try!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Vowell's writing is an acquired taste apparently but I'm here for it! I wish she wrote more of her folk history style books and absolutely love her narration. I wonder if her This American Life essays are compiled and if they could be audiobook formatted as well.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Almost completely drops his return tour, which happened between his participation in the Revolutionary War and his imprisonment during the French Revolution. That would have done a lot toward showing how he was once regarded. Instead the book focuses on his Revolutionary contributions. In a way, it tells us how he should be regarded instead of how he was. It's fascinating, but I do wish there was a bit more on his celebrity so his fade into history would be a bit more dynamic.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    Save yourself the time. Could have been a decent book if the author did a better job of keeping their own narrative out of the facts.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I want to start of this review by saying that pretty much the whole time I was reading this, I had the Hamilton soundtrack stuck in my head, specifically the line: "Everyone give it up for America's favorite fighting Frenchman!"Anyway...I picked up this book because I wanted to know more about the young man who willingly (and very eagerly) left his wife and child behind to fight a war for another country's independence. I was a little surprised when I started reading to find that Vowell's book was not so much a biography of the Marquis de Lafayette, but an examination of the American Revolution as a whole. This is the first book by Vowell that I've ever read, and it took me a while to get used to her time-jumping, sarcastic style (which was not unwelcome, just unexpected). By the end of the book, I felt like I got a good feel for the major players in the Revolution, but not as complete a picture of Lafayette as I wanted. The last few pages on the statue of Lafayette in the park across from the White House, however, gave me all kinds of patriotic feels, so the impact that he made on our country (though many have forgotten it) can still be felt.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Many times this book crosses the border from book of history to editorial on current society and back again.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Vowels has a quirky take on American history, and mixes in plenty of personal anecdotes about her research. She brings a fresh look to the old stories we think we know by heart.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A terrific book; i did not know anything about Lafayette and his contribution to our independence, but Sarah Vowell does. She is a funny writer and also shares many of my liberal prejudices, including allowing women to vote. Her comments that we have been a disaster at implementing our own declaration or constitution are spot on. I had no idea that reading history and learning a thing or two could be so enjoyable. Her observation that the US is splintered beyond belief is correct.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I think it's fair to say that to this frustrated history major now working in corporate America, Sarah Vowell is a heroine. To be able to drive around the U.S. with your best friends and favorite family and visit historic sites, both famous and obscure is something from my dreams... ACK! Why did I give up so early?Not only do I love her life, I love her style--observant, sarcastic, and insightful--all delivered with a healthy dose of humor. This is the third Sarah Vowell book that I've read and each of them has presented a story that I thought I knew--or should have known--in way that proved I only knew the bullet points or in same cases the myth.In the case of Lafayette in the Somewhat United States Vowell takes on the part of the French in the Revolutionary War through the life of its most famous character, General Lafayette. It's hard to even write that term "General" because the dude was only 19-years-old when he received that rank. Apparently, all that fighting the French and English had been doing for centuries and the personal toll it took on Lafayette (his father was killed in battle early in Lafayette's life) made Frenchmen in general and Lafayette in particular much better at the art of war than the typical America. So the young commission.He proved himself a loyal and able leader and endeared himself to the Americans so that when he returned to the United States nearly 30 years after the end of the war and after having endured a harrowing time back home during the French Revolution, he was met with hugs by the Founding Fathers.So I knew that the French backed us during the Revolution and I knew that Lafayette was one of them, but I really didn't understand how decisive the French help was. Without them there wouldn't have been us. Vowell does a really good job of showing the reader that as she takes us from walks through the mansions of pre-revolutionary France to tours of US battlefields to an interview with George Washington in Colonial Williamsburg. I learned a lot.All that being said, as much as I liked unlearning all that stuff I thought I knew before, I missed the funny Sarah. There were a few places in this book where I guffawed, but mostly she seemed more ticked off than in her other books. I'm not sure if that's a sign of the times, the subject matter at hand, or maybe she was being funny and I was just too much of a stick in the mud to recognize it. They ARE the Founding Fathers, don't you know?Anyway, the more serious tone is not enough to keep me from recommending this book - it's good! - but if you've never read Sarah Vowell before start with something else, like Unfamiliar Fishes or Assassination Vacation.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Witty, informative and a thoroughly delightful work. I’m a better citizen for having listened.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    All you could want to know about the kid from France with a penchant for battle and glory! Vowell is a most interesting writer who makes history interesting, fun, and humorous.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I love Sarah Vowell. I love French culture. I love American history. So this was pretty much a slam dunk for me. Vowell weaves in pop culture references and has a narrative style that makes everything she writes about totally accessible.

    I also very much enjoyed reading about events that are embedded in my brain after six months of listening to the "Hamilton" cast recording--the intersections between the two events are few, but delightful to come across.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Although I didnt enjoy it as much as Assassination Vacation I did like this book. The American revolution isnt a historical topic Im particularly drawn to, but its presentation in this book is interesting and entertaining. I listened to this on audiobook which I highly recommend since its read by the author with various guest voices. One of my only real complaints was the use of some transphobic language. Its brief, but still frustrating to encounter from an author I respect.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Interesting biography of a foreign soldier in the American revolution, and how much the us owes France for it's freedom. Also tie-ins to the present day "Freedom Fries", how do politicians have so much free time to do nothing, the answer is they are just behaving as did the founding fathers.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Disappointing. Vowell tells us about travelling to various places while researching this book which seems like a lot of trouble given how little information she conveys about her purported subject.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Interesting. Filled in background on French involvement in The Revolutionary War. The contemporary parts (references to the 2013 government shutdown, for example) were a little jarring.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I love Sarah Vowell's writing style and her vocal delivery. She manages to bring humor to topics that could otherwise tend toward dryness.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    For a book with Lafayette's name in the title, there was relatively little about him.

    My reaction to this book is partly based out of unfamiliarity with the author: I'd expected a casual history, but not this casual. Vowell seems to have a Mary Roach approach to writing history, lacing it with personal anecdotes of research and snarky reactions to silly situations. Sadly, her humor didn't really click with me, and her research fell down on the job a lot, too, leaving a lot of stones unturned. (But thank goodness I know her nephew rented some costume stuff in Williamsburg!)

    As I noted in one of my updates, she also had an annoying tendency to explain things that didn't need explaining, including by summarizing quotes that, actually, were super-straightforward, like a student trying to make their minimum word count. On the other hand, stones left unturned: some passages that begged for more explanation were left brief, context-less.

    This might be a good read to entice middle-schoolers into Revolutionary history, maybe. Like I said, not a lot of Lafayette focus, but we get a big overview of the battles of the AmRev, both physical and political.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I had been curious about Vowell's books for ages, and finally got around to picking this one up as a part of my current trend on reading about the American Revolution. Vowell has become known for her associative, nearly stream-of-consciousness style that sometimes feels like an NPR radio segment or nerdy podcast. Most of the time it really worked for me -- especially as she's talking about how Lafayette's legacy has changed over the history of America -- her asides on Pennsylvania Quakers and Colonial Williamsburg re-enactors is actually pretty on topic.I did sometimes wish for more straightforward biographical information on Lafayette -- but any good non-fiction book should leave you wanting to learn more, right? And this book made me want to learn more about Lafayette, Washington, and the general course of the war. It's becoming increasingly clear that most of my Revolutionary knowledge is about the statesmen and the causes -- very little about the war itself.A fascinating read.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    An unromantic look at one of the more romantic of historical figures, Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette. The structure of this book is sort of like a ball of yarn played along a hallway by a kitten, with eddies of yarn popping us into a contemporary tour of sites figuring in Lafayette's adventures with the continental army, and his tour 40 odd years later. The lack of unity in what was to become the USA is a constant theme, a dark haze in the mostly humorous tone. Calligraphic caricatures that seem more whimsical than accurate punctuate the text.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Vowels has a quirky take on American history, and mixes in plenty of personal anecdotes about her research. She brings a fresh look to the old stories we think we know by heart.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I wish all history textbooks were written by Sarah. This one is ostensibly about the American Revolution from the view point of Lafayette, the young French aristocrat, who defied his family to seek out fame and adventure in the new world. I listened to this on audio and while Sarah read the text, there was a great cast who spoke the thoughts and musings of the founding Fathers; Nick Offerman as Washington (perfect), John Slattery as Lafayette, John Hodgeman as John Adams and Bobby Cannavale as Benjamin Franklin. Recommend! 9/10"What the French took from the Americans was their theory of revolution, not government. Their cutting, not their sewing.""Jacob Ritter was so appalled by the day's patriotic gore that he had an epiphany... It says something about the ugliness of Sept 11, 1777 that this boy woke up a Lutheran and went to bed a Quaker."
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Part of what I like about Vowell's amateur historian take on American history is the way she is able to relate Bruce Springsteen to a 19-year old vainglorious Frenchman who defied his family and sailed to the colonies to volunteer in their fight for American Independence. This can also be distracting. Since I've always been fascinated about how we're all connected in the most surprising ways, these little detours are more interesting than irritating.

    Granted, it's been years since I've studied or even though of the American Revolution, but I don't remember hearing much about Lafayette at al and he was an integral part of the war. In fact, if asked before listening to this book, I would have assumed Lafayette was historically tied to New Orleans instead of the American Revolution. Nor would I have said that the French were most responsible for winning the war than our underfunded, underfed, and almost naked Army and militia. But, that's just like America: we think of our past only as it gives us pleasure, and we only ever take pleasure in our role as the Hero. And, that is what I like the best about Vowell's work, and recommend it to anyone: she highlights forgotten parts of our history in such a unique and interesting way, her lessons stay with you forever, and she isn't afraid to point out our excessive pride and our faulty historical memory. If you're looking for jingoism, Vowell isn't the amateur historian for you.

    As far as the narration goes, I thought I would enjoy Vowell's take on her own work more than I did. I'd probably steer anyone interested in her work to pick up the book instead.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Sarah Vowell does her thing with the Revolutionary War and Lafayette. Her usual snark, humor, and wit, plus a fair bit of good research. I did expect a bit more on Lafayette's return visit in 1824, but no real matter. If you are a Vowell fan, you'll want to have a go at this one too, probably.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Sarah Vowell's Lafayette in the Somewhat United States follows the life of Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, both in France and British North America during the American Revolution. Though she admits that her goal is not to write a standard history, Vowell's research and level of detail makes this a fantastic resource for those interested in the Revolutionary period and her wit makes reading a delight. Vowell often digresses to follow interesting events from some of the major players of the period or to interject anecdotes about their legacies from the eighteenth, nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries. One point that she returns to throughout her book is the place of discord and debate in forming the American character, then and now. Vowell's insights demonstrate how the lessons of the 1770s resonate. She writes, "That, to me, is the quintessential experience of living in the United States: constantly worrying whether or not the country is about the fall apart" (pg. 14). Summarizing the Revolution, she writes, "Ideas, when implemented, turn into precedents with unpredictable and potentially disturbing consequences" (pg. 19). Lafayette in the Somewhat United States is an excellent cultural history about the Revolution and its legacy – both political and in the popular imagination – and is sure to entertain anyone.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is a historical look both at Lafayette in particular and at the French contributions to the American Revolution in general. As is usual for Vowell, it's sprinkled with amusing and sometimes slightly snarky commentary, and, as is usual for almost every popular history book I've ever read, it contains enough details about the fascinating little quirks of history to make me wonder just how the hell my high school history classes managed to make learning about this stuff so insufferably dull.I do have one sort-of complaint, which is something I've noticed in all of Vowell's historical books: She tends to jump around a lot, going off on digressions, skipping over some events, and alluding to others out of chronological order. I've discovered that if I have a decent basic grounding in the subject she's talking about, I find this charming and pleasant, but if I don't, it can become a little difficult to follow. And, unfortunately, my entire previous knowledge of Lafayette, courtesy of aforementioned crappy high school history classes, can be summed up as, "He was some French guy who helped out in the Revolutionary War, and I guess he must have been useful somehow." Poor Lafayette. Sarah Vowell has convinced me he deserves better.Rating: I debated over the rating for this, due to the sometimes-I-didn't-follow-it-so-well thing. But then I asked myself, would I recommend this book to someone interested in the subject matter? And the answer is yes. Yes, I certainly would. So I'm being very slightly generous and giving it a 4/5.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    You are going to walk out of here knowing more about the American Revolution than you thought there was to know. Now, normally, that would be a bit of a threat. History downloads, no matter how interested you may be in the subject, can quickly become boring. But this is Sarah Vowell. And one thing no one (to my knowledge) has ever accused Sarah Vowell of being is boring.Sarah has successfully moved from entertaining essayist to skilled researcher. And, in the process, she still keeps that adjective “entertaining.” This is an entertaining and information-filled discussion of the American Revolution, the role of France and Lafayette, and just how dysfunctional this country has been since the very beginning.The framework around this piece is the story of the Marquis of Lafayette. If you didn’t know, Lafayette is one of the heroes of our (that is, the United States) independence. And one of the points of this book is that, while Lafayette was held in high status for a very long time (look at the things and people – including my maternal grandfather – named after Lafayette), his fame has diminished over time.But that is just a framework. While there is extensive and interesting information on Lafayette, we also learn about the role the American Revolution played in France’s revolution, the incompetence of the Continental Congress in running a war, the details of the Battle of Yorktown and how close that came to coming out differently, the support the colonies had back in British Parliament, how a ragtag band of misfits, yokels, and farmers were turned into a real fighting force…288 pages, and all this plus more is discussed in pretty good detail.Now, I’m not going to say this is a historical treatise worthy of a reviewed journal. But it is well researched and tells the story in an entertaining way that kept me reading. For some, I am sure Sarah Vowell’s approach becomes bothersome and irritating. The sudden juxtapositions of her approach to research and personal incidents may not sit well with some readers. But that is just a part of what attracts me to her writing. She can be knee-deep in a real, historical discussion, and then she suddenly thrusts the real world (her real world) in there. It makes it more entertaining, and it makes it more…real.This is a worthy addition to the Sarah Vowel canon and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys her writing, is interested in history, or wants to learn much more about the American Revolution.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I read this because Hamilton has been on repeat in my car for a year or something now, and he *is* my favorite fighting Frenchman after D'Artagnan and before General Thomas-Alexandre Dumas. I enjoyed learning about his family of military bigwigs and how desperate he was to get over here and fight.
    Lafayette, a descendent of Christian warriors stretching back to the Crusade, cheerfully belly flopped into the bloodbath.
    And later, on his farewell tour of the US, it's easy to imagine him in a sort of Dickensian popular tour. Because this is a book about how Vowell feels about things she reads and places she goes and What History Means to Me, there is no pretense of reporting, no effort to be fairhanded. There is humor; there's snark: especially every time he manages to impregnate his wife before running off for several more years. It all works because it makes us think about what history means to us, and some of it is funny and some of it is rage-inducing, and all the best bits were never included in our text books.

    Library copy
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Vowell turns her signature blend of smartassery and scholarship to a man who is usually depicted one-dimensionally, the Marquis de Lafayette, Revolutionary hero and American (French) icon. Vowell gives us a glory-hungry teenager whose early hero-worship of George Washington matures over time into a more seasoned military mind. Vowell's jumping-off-point is actually Lafayette's 1820s visit to the U.S., when he revisits landmarks of his wartime successes and weeps at Washington's tomb. The adulation of the American crowds that heralded his visit lead Vowell to consider the near-universal popularity of a man who seemed equally beloved by everyone, including such bitter rivals as John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson. Her ruminations on the cantankerous nature of American politics could have been deeper, but she turns so thoroughly and so engagingly to the story of the Marquis himself that I soon forgot my wish for more insightful political theorizing. Her historical research ranges from visits to battlefields and memorials to combing through letters and military dispatches. Such thoroughness not only lends her biographical history rich and compelling detail, but it also supports Vowell's story with solid scholarship. I strongly recommend the audiobook version. I enjoy Vowell's voice; an NPR alumnae, she may be an acquired taste, but I find that her own reading is the best interpretation of her wry wit. The real treat is the impressive cast of readers who portray the historical figures, including Nick Offerman as George Washington, John Hodgman as John Adams, John Slattery as the Marquis de Lafayette, and Patton Oswalt as Thomas Jefferson, among others. Highly recommended -- especially the audio edition!