LAFAYETTE: HERO OF TWO WORLDS
by Olivier Bernier
Dutton; 356 pages; $19.95
Timid, tongue-tied, earnest to a fault, Gilbert de La Fayette did not seem bound for glory. He embarrassed himself on horseback, stumbled on the dance floor. But he had a fine old name, and after his father died when Gilbert was two years old and his mother when he was twelve, Gilbert came into a handsome fortune. Hating court life in the Versailles of Louis XV, the marquis went into the army. At 19, with only the briefest of military training, he set...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
