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Acclaim for The French War Against America
""A very readable and provocative tale of early Franco-American relations that will please some and infuriate others.""
—John Buchanan, author of The Road to Valley Forge: How Washington Built the Army That Won the Revolution
""Harlow Unger has written an amazing tour de force revealing France's two-faced role in the American Revolution and the early Republic. The book also has enormous relevance for contemporary politics. Don't miss it.""
—Thomas Fleming, author of Liberty!: The American Revolution
Praise for Lafayette
""Harlow Unger has cornered the market on muses to emerge as America's most readable historian. His new biography of the Marquis de Lafayette combines a thoroughgoing account of the age of revolution, a probing psychological study of a complex man, and a literary style that goes down like cream.""
—Florence King, Contributing Editor, National Review
- Sales Rank: #1405171 in Books
- Published on: 2005-03-01
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 9.66" h x 1.07" w x 6.10" l, 1.25 pounds
- Binding: Hardcover
- 304 pages
From Publishers Weekly
The only French war against America-in the traditional sense-was an undeclared maritime war in the late 1790s, and it does not appear until the 10th chapter of this provocative but flawed study. The rest is good old-fashioned realpolitik that never fooled George Washington, who understood and accepted that "it is a maxim... that no nation is to be trusted farther than it is bound by its interests." Unger, the author of biographies of Lafayette, John Hancock and Noah Webster, argues that the recent French campaign to frustrate American interests is part of a policy that stretches back to the founding of the Republic. Much of Unger's story is well known. France, which lost its North American empire in 1763, was the first nation to recognize American independence and to offer assistance during the Revolution; monarchical and aristocratic France was more interested in weakening old enemy England and regaining its lost colonies than in liberty. That France should continue to base its diplomacy on its perceived self-interests thereafter-even to the point of trying to destabilize the American administration-is not startling, but Unger is often shrill in his characterizations. He exaggerates French threats (which often were no more than wishful thinking), implies the worst about French behavior and casts the French people in an unflattering light: "certifiably insane," the "French hordes" commit "vile treachery." In the present climate, there is likely an audience for a book that promises to expose French duplicity, but Unger promises more than he can deliver.
Copyright � Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Review
"A very readable and provocative tale of early Franco-American relations that will please some and infuriate others."
—John Buchanan, author of The Road to Valley Forge: How Washington Built the Army that Won the Revolution
"Harlow Unger has written an amazing tour de force revealing France's two faced role in the American Revolution and the early Republic. The book also has enormous relevance for contemporary politics. Don't miss it."
—Thomas Fleming, author of Liberty! The American Revolution
From the Inside Flap
By the end of 1798, France—"our oldest ally"—had captured or sunk more than eight hundred American ships, and President John Adams called George Washington out of retirement to command the defense of the nation's shores against imminent French invasion. The French war against America had reached its climax. After thirty-five years of feigning friendship for America, France at last revealed her real motive for supporting the American Revolution—and it had nothing to do with liberty.
In The French War Against America, award-winning author and historian Harlow Giles Unger shatters the myth of France as our oldest ally and reveals her as our oldest enemy. Citing hundreds of secret and not-so-secret personal and official documents and letters from French, American, and British sources, Unger lays bare a chapter of American history ignored by many historians: the long and treacherous French plot to recapture North America.
Contrary to popular belief, the French Army came to fight in America's Revolutionary War not to save America but to conquer her. By infiltrating the Continental Army high command, French officers hoped to replace Washington and establish a French military dictatorship. By war's end, French agents had infiltrated every area of American life, developing close relationships with top American officials, working their way to the highest levels of the American military, and bribing cabinet members to obtain secret documents—all to try to turn the young nation into a French vassal state. From the beginning of the war, however, a small group of courageous Founding Fathers had remained suspicious of French motives. This action-packed history follows them—Washington, Adams, John Jay, and others—as they outwit every overt and covert French plot to destroy the United States.
A decade after the American Revolution, French government agents tried to overthrow President Washington by provoking widespread street rioting, while French warships occupied the harbors of major cities. Again, the Founding Fathers outwitted the French. Furious at their nation's humiliation, the French Navy began sinking American ships to crush American foreign trade. John Adams ordered construction of an American Navy that destroyed the French fleet. Undeterred, the French continued to plot to reconquer North America into the next century. Napoleon I prepared to send 20,000 troops to invade Louisiana in 1802, and his nephew Napoleon III sent 40,000 troops to conquer Mexico in 1863, with orders to march northward into the United States.
To this day, "our oldest ally" often seems still at war with America—metaphorically and diplomatically, if not militarily. The French War Against America provides new perspectives on the origins of that war and explains why it may never end. An important addition to Franco-American history, it adds new insights into current diplomatic relationships. It is also an exciting, action-filled drama of remarkable human courage.
Most helpful customer reviews
34 of 43 people found the following review helpful.
Read this book, not the Publisher's Weekly review of it.
By Michael L. Oddenino
I heartily recommend this book and couldn't disagree more with the tendentious review from Publishers Weekly. Unger's documentation is available in his book with endnotes for anyone truly interested to investigate. The Publisher's Weekly review lacks any such counter attempt to actually provide references of Unger's supposed errors. The review takes certain of Unger's adjectives out of context in an attempt to suggest that Unger
is just name-calling. This is an unworthy ploy designed to seduce the casual reader.
Unger uses hard data in making his case against the French but the Publisher's Weekly review would have one believe he relies on adjectives alone. This is an inaccurate and incomplete description of what Unger actually does, but the charge of "argument by adjective" is exactly what is done by the reviewer in criticizing Unger. The Publisher's Weekly review relies primarily on adjectives or conclusory statements such as: "provocative but flawed," "not-startling," "exaggerates,"and "shrill," which serve as a feeble substitutes for any reliably significant commentary on the book.
Unger details, with more than adequate documentation, French efforts to topple George Washington, French efforts to invade Louisiana, French efforts to betray the American peace negotiators after the Revolutionary War, as well as other examples of French treachery. What the book details is a string of French actions designed specifically to harm the United States. Intentionally and deceptively taking steps to harm an "ally" is accepted by the Publisher's Weekly review as France simply basing "its diplomacy on its perceived self-interests." The Publisher's Weekly review is fraudulent and I am confident that in any debate, Unger would shred the reviewer. Of course, that debate won't happen as "bologna fears the grinder."
I have no problem with critical reviews, and when they are well-done, they enhance what I get out of a book. Neither the Publisher's Weekly reviewer's adjectives nor conclusory comments serve to advance the discussion of a very interesting topic for both the historian and political observer. I stand by my recommendation of the book and welcome hard evidence of any errors that the book might contain - adjectives will not suffice.
While the bulk of the book focuses on the period just before, during and after the Revolutionary War, Unger also gives some attention to more modern events. He discusses the phenomenon of current French leaders all being ENARCHS or graduates of the Ecole Nationale d'Administration (ENA plus the Latin/Greek suffix "arch" meaning "chief,")
Here are some examples of insights he shares:
"... enarchs have badly undermined the French economy by discouraging free enterprise, limiting investments in creative genius and modern invention, stunting expansion of the arts and sciences, and discouraging individual initiative. Harvard University's endowment alone, for example, is more than double the combined annual budgets of all universities in France. " p. 251
"Impotent or not, France and the French continue to plot against
America. As de Villepin boasts, "France is obsessed with power . . . galvanized by conquest. It is a national disease passed down through the ages . . . we have never learned to live in partnership . . . France is still aflame with the passions of a great nation, fervently defending her rightful place in history." p. 252.
This book combines great historical research with fascinating insights into modern day events. A great read for those with an interest in these areas.
5 of 7 people found the following review helpful.
No Such Thing as a Free Lunch
By spartanram
If you're a history buff of the early settling of our country through the War of 1812 you'll be fascinated by this book.
Again like the Loyalist view of the Revolutionary War this is a subject never addressed in our elementary or high school education.
We as Americans should be most appreciative for France's participation on land and particularly at sea in support of the colonists in the war against the British Crown. However, as this book points out it was hardly an altruistic effort by the French.
France had every intention re-establishing their influence on the North American continent once the British were defeated. Their plans to accomplish this not only greatly added to my historical knowledge but makes a great story of foreign intrigue; better than anything on TV today.
2 of 4 people found the following review helpful.
Absorbing!
By Michael E. Fitzgerald
If you study the American Revolution you are likely to walk away from the experience realizing our independence is owed, in no small part, to France. The French army comprised almost half of Washington's troops at Yorktown and a French fleet defeated an English one off the Virginia capes, preventing Cornwallis's relief and evacuation. French munitions armed the American army and French loans financed the entire American war effort. There simply is no doubt France helped achieve American independence.
But did you realize France sought a formal union with America, with America a vassal state? Or that French generals were ordered to assume command of the American army? That is what the Conway Cabal was all about, replacing George Washington with a French general. France, it seems, was looking to surreptitiously conquer England's former colonies and defeat Britain just as it had attempted to do during the French and Indian War thirteen years earlier.
But there is more, much more to Harlow Unger's fine work. Blocked by Washington, Franklin, et. al., from dominating America's formative years (France actively lobbied against the adoption of the Constitution), France would subsequently attack American shipping, capturing over 800 ships, half of the entire US merchant fleet, before America responded with an undeclared war during the early 1790s. Given the rise of Napoleon and France's continuing wars of global conquest, France would again seek to conquer Louisiana but would end the effort after disease decimated two French armies at Santo Domingo.
Selling Louisiana to the United States almost ended France's dreams of a North American empire. But France would be back, with Maximilian in Mexico, in the mid 1860s. Thwarted yet again by the United States, according to the author France would subsequently embark on a policy of almost maniacal hatred of all things American that extends to this day.
I am not 100% sure about the veracity of this last sentence. It is the author's contention, not mine. But if you read this very worthwhile book, you just might understand how the author came to his conclusion. This is a good, well-researched history combined with sound, deductive reasoning that will leave you scratching your head and wondering just how close to the truth the author may be.
Highly recommended.
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