Overview

Six months after America declared her independence, Congress dispatched Benjamin Franklin to France to solicit aid and arms for the upcoming fight. He was seventy years old, possessed of the most rudimentary French and had no diplomatic training. But this most remarkable of envoys was also among the most famous men in the world. During his eight years in Paris he charmed the French, outwitted the British spies and stirred a passion for a republic in those who lived under an absolute monarchy. Stacy Schiff tells a tale of international intrigue and from it emerges an intimate portrait of a brilliant man, as well as a sense of the fragility and improvisation of his country's bid for independence.

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9780747579632

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Reviews

'A brilliant book ... Stacy Schiff has written a masterpiece' Amanda Foreman author of GEORGIANA: DUCHESS OF DEVONSHIRE 'Gripping ... Schiff paints a triumphantly seductive picture of the tolerant, mercurial man whom the French public took to their hearts' Daily Telegraph 'A wonderfully rich and indulgent story, full of intrigue, betrayals and eventual triumph, told in a superbly paced narrative. A book to curl up with and to savour (probably with a bottle of burgundy)' Irish Times 'The most important recent addition to Franklin scholarship' New York Times Book Review

Author Information

Stacy Schiff is the author of Vera (Mrs. Vladimir Nabokov) which won the Pulitzer Prize for biography in 2000 and Saint-Exupery, which was a finalist for the 1995 Pulitzer Prize. She lives in New York City.

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