Beaumarchais and the American Revolution [Hardcover]

Brian N. Morton (Author), Donald C. Spinelli (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 15, 2003

Described by the magazine American Heritage as the "Most Underrated French Hero of the American Revolution," Caron de Beaumarchais—the French watchmaker who rose to fame and fortune as a dramatist, polemist, and Enlightenment free-thinker—became the most famous arms dealer of the American Revolutionary War. Based on archival research in Europe and the U.S., this authoritative study tells the fascinating story of Beaumarchais's role as an owner and outfitter of ships and as an arms merchant. It chronicles his dealings with Louis XVI, Vergennes, Benjamin Franklin, and the American Continental Congress, and his family's struggle to receive payment for the weapons and materiel sent to the American colonists. Morton and Spinelli's work is a rich, detailed history of the American Revolution and of one of the eighteenth century's most engaging characters.

Editorial Reviews

Review

This book represents an original and important contribution to our knowledge of Beaumarchais's life and times and is the first-ever serious study of Beaumarchais's contribution to the American Revolution. As such, it offers a wealth of detailed insights into not only eighteenth-century diplomacy among nations but among individuals in the Republic of Letters. The intertwining of personal relationships and power politics is an important element of the age of Enlightenment, with which scholars and students are only recently coming to understand fully. No one working in French literature today has read as many original sources on the life of Beaumarchais as Donald Spinelli and Brian Morton, and this extensive research gives their work a richness, density and originality unmatched by any other Beaumarchais scholar. (Brown, Gregory S. )

This fascinating and meticulously researched account of French dramatists Pierre Augustan Caron de Beaumarchais (1732-1799) focuses on his activities as a maverick gunrunner during the American Revolution, a role most readers do not associate with the well-known auhthor who inspired Mozart's opera The Marriage of Figaro (1784). After reading this exciting book one wonders how he found time to write at all, consumed as he was by his business dealings in America and by his business dealings in America and by his efforts to avoid personal bankruptcy in France. (French Review )

A splendid book on a fascinating topic, superbly researched and engagingly written. (Dull, Jonathan R. )

About the Author

Brian N. Morton taught French literature at the University of Michigan for twenty years. He has written extensively on Beaumarchais, including Beaumarchais: A Bibliography (with Donald C. Spinelli, 1988) and Beaumarchais. Correspondance. Tomes I-IV (1968-1979, Tome IV with Donald C. Spinelli). Donald C. Spinelli is Professor of French at Wayne State University

Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Lexington Books (February 15, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0739104683
• ISBN-13: 978-0739104682
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,099,163 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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