Few figures in history can match the career of Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier de Lafayette, which spanned over half a century during the tumultuous Revolutionary era that ushered in the modern world. In addition to tracing his journey from the salons of Versailles to the battlefields of the New World, historian Alexander Mikaberidze examines Lafayette’s contrasts: an idealist who was a glory-seeking opportunist and an ardent proponent of American republican tenets who eagerly supported monarchy.