News Release
Septebmer 2007
Bethlehem, Pa., September 12, 2007—Cultural historian James R. Gaines, former editor of Time and People magazines, will discuss his latest book, For Liberty and Glory, during a lecture and book-signing at Moravian College on Thursday, September 20 at 7:30 p.m. in Peter Hall. The lecture is free and open to the public.
For Liberty and Glory: Washington, Lafayette, and Their Revolutions (W.W. Norton & Company, 2007), delivers a brilliant retelling of both the American and French Revolutions and offers for the first time, a single narrative that provides a fresh perspective on the complex relationship between Washington and Lafayette as well as the similarities -- and differences -- between the two wars for independence. Drawn from a wealth of sources, including diplomatic correspondence of America's revolutionary "secret committee," The book weaves the lives of two great generals, their personal transformations, and their momentous revolutions into a masterful work of history.
“The relationship between France and the United States has always been contentious”, explains Gaines. “At the heart of this complicated political alliance are two men whose deep respect and admiration for one another helped them lead their nations through their respective revolutions—George Washington and Marquis de Lafayette. Though theirs was an unlikely friendship, and they often worked at cross-purposes, the bond between Washington and Lafayette was strong and their shared passion to bring liberty and equality to the United States and France, respectively, produced an extraordinary effect on subsequent history.”
For Liberty and Glory tells the tale of two men who came from vastly different backgrounds—a rich aristocrat and a battle-toughened frontiersman—but who shared a common destiny. Both Washington and Lafayette began as courtiers in a world of privilege—yet both knew that in order to change their position, they had first to change themselves. “The friendship of Washington and Lafayette seems in many ways about as unlikely as the French-American one, almost a joke,” Gaines writes. “What does a Virginia frontiersman and grade-school dropout have in common with a rich French aristocrat who learned to ride with three future kings? Still an account of their friendship opens a window on many things that their story as individuals does not, including the first act in the great psychodrama of French-American relations, as well as the perennially tempting mystery of how struggles for the same noble and universal principles could have had such wildly different outcomes."
In the book, Gaines reveals a wealth of fascinating detail on the similarities and coincidences between the two wars. His tale begins on April 18, 1775 when just a few hours before Paul Revere began his famous ride, a "Grain War" broke out in the capital of Burgundy, a riot over the price of bread that would eventually lead to the fall of the Bastille fourteen years later. Gaines also reveals other coincidences, including the virtually simultaneous coronation of Louis XVI and nomination of Washington as revolutionary commander-in-chief to the actually simultaneous work that French minister Thomas Jefferson was doing with Lafayette on the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and with James Madison on the U. S. Bill of Rights.
In chronicling the relationship between Washington and Lafayette, Gaines debunks the long-held “childless-father/fatherless-child" myth and demonstrates how deeply intertwined their causes, passions, and beliefs actually were. He provides a wealth of detail on their lives, their deep friendship, and Washington’s struggles to foster a new American republic while Lafayette fought to bring liberty and equality to an increasingly tyrannical France.
For Liberty and Glory also provides a fascinating glimpse into both the political and social forces that were transforming both Washington and Lafayette through portraits of such influential figures as Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, James Madison, and Pierre Beaumarchais. As Gaines explains, though both men carefully shaped their characters and records into the form they wanted history to remember, their singular cause profoundly altered not only the political landscape but that of human rights and the concept of individualism as well. “Finding themselves leading the struggle for the basic human right to become something other than what we are born to be, Washington and Lafayette, in their very different ways, had to fight for their own independence, and to watch them as they did that is one way to see a radically new world being born, a world in which the value of a life is not extrinsic and bestowed but grounded in self-respect, something that can be earned by one’s own effort and the might be lost but cannot be taken away,” Gaines writes.
During 2005, Gaines visited Moravian College to speak at a National Endowment for the Humanities Institute for Teachers on Bach and his cultural world. Coordinated by music faculty members Hilde Binford, assistant professor, and Paul Larson, professor emeritus, the institute brought 25 elementary and secondary school teachers to Bethlehem to learn about Bach and the Age of Enlightenment: science, mathematics, philosophy, history, art, literature, and music.
Marquis de Lafayette, who was treated by the Moravian Brethren when he was wounded during the Revolutionary war, may have been treated at the Brethren's House, which was used as a military hospital during the war and is now part of the music and art complex on Moravian’s south campus. When Gaines stayed for a week at the College, he visited other areas of Eastern Pennsylvania to research his subject.
Before becoming a full-time author, Gaines was the chief editor of several magazines, including both Time and People. He has published several books during his career including Wit’s End: Days and Nights of the Algonquin Round Table, The Lives of the Piano, and the highly-praised Evening in the Palace of Reason: Bach Meets Frederick the Great in the Age of Enlightenment. A native of Dayton, Ohio, and a resident of Paris, he brings a unique perspective to a broad range of issues between America and Europe, as well as their historical underpinnings.
A reception and book signing will follow the talk. Copies of Gaines book ($25) will be available for signing. The program is sponsored by Arts and Lectures at Moravian College. For more information, please call 610-861-1491.
Moravian College is a private, coeducational, selective liberal arts college located in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Tracing its founding to 1742, it is recognized as America's sixth-oldest college. Visit the Web site at www.moravian.edu.
