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Unlikely Allies: How a Merchant, a Playwright, and a Spy Saved the American Revolution
Reviews |
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| Authors:
Joel Richard |
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Consumer Ratings and
Reviews for Unlikely Allies: How a Merchant, a Playwright, and a Spy Saved the American Revolution |
Rating:
| | Review: An Eye Opener
| I was turned to this book by its author, Joel Paul, interviewed on a PBS talk show - Michael Krasney, KQED San Francisco. Paul sounded more like the guy next door than a history professor, and his solicitous demeanor finds its way into his book = which is not only revealing but humorously written and quite easy to read.
Get ready for a tumble. If you left your formal education with the notion that our war of independence was glorious and that those who executed it were honorable and pure, you are in for a surprise - and you must remind yourself as you read: this is history and not fiction.
Paul does a marvelous job of telling us that even our most esteemed heroes are people, and subject to the same ambitions, stratagems, and fractured morality we see in our movers and shakers today. Truly an awakening, this book shines a bright light on the complications and maneuvering that preceded and followed our rebellion - focus on both sides of the "pond;" and the cajoling and extortion needed to bring in the imperative French support. It is fast paced using ordinary language, and while a convoluted story, is done in understandable form. "Unlikely Allies" is truly a treat. |
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| | Review: Deception in the Title
| | The title Unlikely Allies: How a Merchant, a Playwright, and a Spy Save the American Revolution is really a stretch of the imagination. To me the book was a disappointment after reading Silas Deane - Patriot or Traitor? by Coy Hilton James, Code Number 72 Ben Franklin: Patriot or Spy? by Cecil Currey, and Beaumarchais and the American Revolution by Brian Morton and Donald Spinelli. The book jacket includes endorsements from several well known authors, one of which is Gordon S. Wood whose books I have read with great appreciation. However, I cannot offer the same with Unlikely Allies. The author fails to create the environment in which his main characters must function. It appears to me that there is a lack of focus on how specifically each character played a pivotal role in saving the American Revolution. The role, if any, of D'Eon in the American Revolution must be seriously questioned. As did other reviewers, I found the time lines difficult to follow. Based on comments to this point a rating of three stars may be questioned. It is entertaining and did have points of interest. To readers who are in search of in depth knowledge of the American Revolution I recommend that you search elsewhere. |
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| | Review: Mission impossible
| Many Americans are familiar with the fact that Benjamin Franklin, that wildly popular old patriot, spent years in France convincing the powers that were to support the Americans in their dispute with King George III. Most, however, are unaware that the role played by Silas Deane was even more important, and those who are, know that Deane was vilified as a embezzler of public funds, a traitor to the American cause, or both. At long last, someone has written the truth about the enormous service performed by Deane, who truly was one of the selfless men that saved the revolution from drowning in disaster.
Unlike some reviewers, I would hardly describe Unlikely Allies as rollicking or wildly entertaining. There are a few humorous elements, mainly in the expose of cross-dresser Chevalier d'Eon, but the author fails to show what d'Eon's contribution was. There are some obvious lapses in Paul's research, as when he describes the 1781 Yorktown Conference as taking place in Deane's Wethersfield, CT house (it happened next door). With respect to Deane and Beaumarchais, however, Paul has done a creditable job, plowing through obscure records that few before him have studied. Deane's mission to Paris was truly impossible, and, unsupported by his own government, what he achieved was nothing less than amazing. In the process, betrayed by his friends, he lost his family, his fortune, and ultimately his life. Perhaps now Silas Deane will be granted his rightful place among America's founding fathers. |
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| | Review: Going Rogue, Revolutionary Style
| While talk of Tea Parties and founding fathers may be all the rage, the founding of the nation--as Paul's book makes delightfully clear--was far more complex, fragile, hard fought and exceptional than we ever knew. Indeed, this excellent and well-researched book should be mandatory reading for students of early American history. They'll not only encounter Revolutionary heroes far more heroic--and revolutionary--than those of the standard tale: a misunderstood and unjustly maligned patriot merchant who sacrificed all, a cross-dressing chevalier who dared blackmail a monarch, and a playwright who creates and is ultimately undone by Figaro. They'll also learn what "going rogue" really means.
Reviewers will no doubt offer well-deserved praise for Paul's engrossing narrative and masterful storytelling skills. Many writers attempt to bring history to life with gunpowder and battlefield maneuvers, but when was the last time you couldn't put down a history book out of sheer fascination? Perhaps that highlights the book's true genius. It not only inspires a deeper appreciation of the political complexities of its time and the personal determination of its characters--remove any one and American independence could have become just another unrealized idea--it does so through the most unlikely approach: simply telling the truth, the whole truth. Thanks to "Unlikely Allies", to borrow from the late Paul Harvey, now you know the rest of the story.
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| | Review: Unlikely Allies
| The reverently-named founding fathers have, post mortem, long been guilty of a different sort of tyranny: tyranny over America's early history. Here comes rebel Joel Richard Paul, a professor of international and constitutional law, wielding //Unlikely Allies//, a shadier version of the forging of the French-American alliance, without which the United States might not exist.
Ambassador Benjamin Franklin's wily republican charm might have won over the French public and historical imagination, but in actuality, the treaty was only a lucky byproduct of a multinational group of ambitious opportunists, who schemed and lied in a struggle to triumph in a world of shifting fortunes, loyalties, and even genders. Oh, there were a few heroes; Silas Deane, a dedicated idealist whose impassioned efforts as ambassador to France have until now been buried in misinformation, and the comic playwright Beaumarchais, called "the only free man in France" for his flagrant contempt for monarchical authority.
Paul gleefully unfurls his story like a suspense thriller, dropping hints, angling cliffhangers, and too often barreling right over nuances and complexities. But lack of deeper analysis aside, //Unlikely Allies// is quick and fun, offering up a fresh take on a period which needs a little shaking up.
Reviewed by Ariel Berg |
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