Lafayette in the Somewhat United States

Though Vowell disavows any status of historian, she's one of the many recent authors who's doing history properly. Her nuanced examinations of relative forgotten or ignored pivotal historical events for America are not only packed with information; they're digestible, too.

This is a much-forgotten aspect when it comes to writing about history by historians. Historians seem to believe that you can write “history,” or you can write for the general market. This short-changes both audiences.

It's not enough to simplify history in order to make it seem more exciting — this is the pseudo-argument at the heart of every high school history textbook I've ever read, that to include all the conflicting and somewhat contrasting evidence would be “confusing” and therefore boring. To their minds, we must all think that George Washington had his cherry tree, never told a lie and ascended to Mount Olympus when his time on this earth was complete.

Vowell and her ilk show us the flaws in the marble busts that so often serve as our only reminders of our leaders. The titular Lafayette should be considered as one of the great heroes of the American Revolution ... but only because he was spoiling for war, and at times probably endangered his troops in his lust for military honors.

But that makes him more interesting, not less. He's a whole human being with conflicting ideas and wants. He's an actual person who made decisions (and mistakes!), rather than a mythical figure who felled giants and battled trolls with immaculately coiffed wigs.