The compelling story of a little-known figure in the American Revolution, now available in paperback for the first time, with a new foreword by Iris de Rode.
In 1776, the playwright and inventor Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais (1732-99) conceived an audacious plan to send aid to the American rebels. What's more, he convinced King Louis XVI to bankroll the project and single-handedly carried it out. By war's end, he had supplied Washington's army with most of its weapons and powder, though he was never paid or acknowledged by the United States. To some, he was a dashing hero, a towering intellect who saved the American Revolution. To others, he was a pure rogue, a double-dealing adventurer who stopped at nothing to advance his fame and fortune. In fact, he was both, and more: an advisor to kings, an arms dealer, and an author of some of the most enduring works of the stage, including The Marriage of Figaro and The Barber of Seville. Now in paperback, Improbable Patriot introduces readers to an unrecognized power player in the Revolutionary War.
Table of Contents: List of Illustrations - Preface and Acknowledgments - We Must Help the Americans - Gold by God! The Fuel of Life! - Last Night Poor, Wealthy Today! - So You Mistreat Some Poor Devil . . . Till He Trembles in Disgrace! - I'm the Busiest, Cleverest Fellow I Know - Plotting and Pocketing - I Wish to Serve Your Country as if It Were My Own - Figaro Here, Figaro There . . . - Bright People Are So Stupid - What Did You Do to Earn So Many Rewards? - Tout finit par des chansons / Everything Ends in Song - All of Which Proves That a Son of a Clod Can Be Worth His Weight in Gold - Appendix: Works by Beaumarchais - Notes - Bibliography - Index
"With wit and insight, Harlow Unger explores the question of whether Pierre Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais was a rogue or a hero by demonstrating he was more than a little of both."--Thomas Fleming
This delightful rogue of many talents set up a company to front for the French and Spanish regimes secretly supplying weapons, munitions, clothing and food to the struggling rebels. --American History"
"The author of this book brings the secret life of Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais into vivid relief with this well-written, engaging, and fast-paced tour de force." -- The Historian
HARLOW GILES UNGER was the 2008 Distinguished Visiting Fellow in American History at George Washington's Mount Vernon. A veteran journalist, broadcaster, educator, and historian, he is author of sixteen books, including five biographies of America's Founders.