Unlikely Allies: How a Merchant, a Playwright, and a Spy Saved the American Revolution Tapa dura - 2009

de Joel Richard Paul

The gripping true story of howthree men used espionage, betrayal,and sexual deception to help winthe American Revolution.

Unlikely Allies is the story of three remarkablehistorical figures. Silas Deane was a Connecticutmerchant and delegate to the ContinentalCongress as the American colonies struggledto break with England. Caron de Beaumarchaiswas a successful playwright who wrote The Barberof Seville and The Marriage of Figaro. Andthe flamboyant and mysterious Chevalier d'Eon-officer, diplomat, and sometime spy-was thetalk of London and Paris. Is the Chevalier a manor a woman?

When Deane is sent to France to convince theFrench government to support the revolutionarycause, he enlists the help of Beaumarchais.Together, they successfully smuggle weapons,ammunition, and supplies to New England justin time for the crucial Battle of Saratoga, whichturned the tide of the American Revolution. Andthe catalyst for Louis XVI's support of the Americansagainst England was the Chevalier d'Eon,whose decision to declare herself a womanhelped to lead to the Franco-American alliance.These three people spin a fascinating web ofpolitical intrigue and international politics thatstretches across oceans as they ricochet fromVersailles to Georgian London to the PennsylvaniaState House (now Independence Hall) inPhiladelphia. Each man has his own reasons forwanting to see America triumph over the British,and each contends daily with the certaintythat no one is what they seem. The line betweenfriends and enemies is blurred, spies lurk inevery corner, and the only way to survive is totrust no one.

An edge-of-your-seat story full of fascinatingcharacters and lavish with period detail andsense of place, Unlikely Allies is Revolutionaryhistory in all of its juicy, lurid glory.