Hello, and welcome to this sneak preview of Hero of Two Worlds, the Marquis de Lafayette

in the Age of Revolution. By me, Mike Duncan. I hope you have all pre-ordered the book already,

and if you have, thank you very much, this is a sneak preview of what's to come.

If you have not pre-ordered the book, this is a sneak preview of what's to come,

and hopefully it will induce you to pre-order the book because you like it so much.

I did pick what I think is a pretty good chapter. We're not just going to do chapter one here.

We're actually going to do chapter four, so we're 60 odd pages into the book by now,

but chapter four is Lafayette landing in America for the first time. His first impressions of America,

America's first impressions of him. We get him landing in South Carolina, then going up to Philadelphia,

getting his commission in the Continental Army confirmed and meeting George Washington,

and it takes us through the Battle of Brandywine. All of this is a very nice slice of the early part of the book.

Now, since I'm not giving you chapter one or chapter two or chapter three, there is just a little

bit you need to know before you can pick it up at chapter four, but chapter one talks about how

Lafayette's parents both died when he was young, leaving him a very rich orphan. Then chapter two

talks about how the fact that he was a very rich orphan made him a very eligible bachelor and a

marriage was arranged for him. He wound up marrying Adrienne, who was a part of the great Noi clan,

one of the most important noble families in all France, but Lafayette quickly discovered he did

not really fit in with high society and he was feeling restless and stifled. And so chapter three

then talks about how he winds up running away from home to join the Continental Army. So I'm just

going to skip over all the details of that because look, that's all in the book. If you want to

get all the details you pre-order the book, it's very entertaining stuff. You know, he dances with

Marie Antoinette and steps under toes and everybody laughs at him and he can't handle his liquor,

...