Mike Duncan is one of the most popular history podcasters in the world and author of the New York Times bestselling book, The Storm Before the Storm. His award winning series The History of Rome remains one of the most popular history podcasts on the internet. Duncan has continued this success with his ongoing series Revolutions--which so far has explored the English, American, French, and Haitian Revolutions. He lives in Paris, France.
"[I]n an age of self-indulgent polemics, deranged conspiracy
theories, and pervasive disinformation, to listen to Duncan while
washing dishes or folding laundry is to believe that facts are
knowable, that historical events of immense complexity can be made
legible, and--to attempt to answer the question with which I
started this review--that history is made neither by singular
individuals nor by social forces, but by the idiosyncratic
interplay of decisions within well-placed vanguard classes....This
is the kind of detail-oriented storytelling that Duncan excels
at."--The New Republic
"Mr. Duncan's 'Hero of Two Worlds' offers, in readable prose, much
informative description alongside measured interpretation. The
author's sympathetic yet balanced and sensible rendering, some may
think, mirrors Lafayette's eventful life in a revolutionary
age."--The Wall Street Journal
"My favorite history book I've read this year so far!"--Jeff Glor,
CBS This Morning: Saturday
"An immensely compelling biography of Lafayette and a disquisition
on the limits of bourgeois liberalism."--Jamelle Bouie, The New
York Times
"Engrossing... Duncan effectively balances Lafayette the man with
Lafayette the public figure and helps delineate the relationship
between the United States and France....His impressive biography
provides an insightful look at the American Revolution that can be
appreciated by history lovers and general readers
alike."--BookPage
"Pleasingly informal....Duncan's biography is written in a loose,
colloquial style that sometimes startles with its informality but
more often delights with its directness."--Adam Gopnik, The New
Yorker
"Duncan reintroduces a celebrated hero....A highly readable
biography of a committed liberal activist caught up in the fickle
political passions of revolutionary extremism, violence, and war.
Like Duncan's previous work, this book is engaging and
accessible."--Library Journal
"Historian and popular history podcaster Duncan brings Lafayette to
center stage in a carefully researched biography... [he] offers
solid historical research in a hip, humorous, and appealing
voice."
--Booklist
"Duncan displays impressive skill in keeping his Lafayette an
admirable figure.... An outstanding account of an almost impossibly
eventful life."
--Kirkus Reviews, starred
"All listeners of The History of Rome and Revolutions - as well as
readers of The Storm Before The Storm -- know the joy of Mike
Duncan guiding them through epic, operatic moments in western
history. Now Duncan has zeroed in on his perfect subject, a
towering figure through whom Duncan can explore and even upend the
birth of political liberalism. Duncan has reintroduced the Marquis
de Lafayette for a whole new generation, bringing him to life with
all his passions, contradictions and hypocrisies. Never mind the
Broadway musicals, here's the Hero of Two Worlds." --Spencer
Ackerman, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author of Reign of
Terror: How The 9/11 Era Destabilized America and Produced
Trump
"I first learned of Mike Duncan's work when a prominent politician
told me he'd been addicted to his podcast on the French Revolution,
and found it startlingly relevant in 2021. Duncan's work is a
reminder that history can also be a gripping yarn full of
compelling characters, and in Hero of Two Worlds he brings alive
one of the great characters of American history."--Ben Smith, New
York Times
"Mike Duncan has dug deep into the world of revolutions, and the
richness of detail in this book is beguiling. But Mike's superpower
is his storytelling skill. Hero Of Two Worlds hooks you from page
one with humor, a sly perspective and a page turning narrative
drive worthy of a life like Lafayette's."--Rian Johnson,
award-winning filmmaker
"Mike Duncan's ability to weave a rich and compelling story is on
full display in Hero of Two Worlds. He takes the reader on a
gripping roller-coaster ride that follows the Marquis de
Lafayette's fortunes through decades of victory, defeat, and
revolution on two continents... Duncan has an exceptional eye for
both human potential and human fallibility, grasping the qualities
that make figures like Lafayette real, three-dimensional people,
simultaneously victims of circumstance and active participants
driving forward the course of history. Hero of Two Worlds is
biography and narrative at its best, an informative page-turner
crafted by a master of historical storytelling."--Patrick Wyman,
creator of Tides of History and author of The Verge: Reformation,
Renaissance, and Forty Years that Shook the World
"Mike Duncan's excellent, well-researched book portrays Lafayette's
extraordinary life as a fascinating, transatlantic drama with three
great revolutions and transitional interludes that carry the reader
through seven explosive decades of historical change. The hero of
this drama plays starring public roles in the American Revolution
and the French Revolutions of 1789 and 1830. But Duncan weaves the
people, conflicts, and legacies of these vast public events into
stories about a personal life that was always entangled with
complex family networks and multi-generational friendships as well
as a loving marriage and emotionally-charged relationships with
other women."--Lloyd Kramer, University of North Carolina, Chapel
Hill and author of Lafayette in Two Worlds: Public Cultures and
Personal Identities in an Age of Revolutions
"This is just great writing. Duncan really knows how to assemble a
compelling story and with Lafayette he has an amazing subject with
which to work. Restores some of the well-deserved luster to the
Frenchman's historical reputation."--Dan Carlin, host of Hardcore
History
"Lafayette gets his due in this magisterial biography."
--Parade.com
"Comprehensive and accessible.... Duncan marshals a wealth of
information into a crisp and readable narrative. This sympathetic
portrait illuminates the complexities of Lafayette and his
revolutionary era."--Publishers Weekly
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