A first hand look at a beautiful mind of the inspiring Marquis de Lafayette. Extremely enjoyable to read, his writing flows easily, clearly showing his honesty and strength of character.

If you were not familiar with the Marquis before, this insight to his beliefs is a grand introduction to his life, his private feelings, and his experiences during the changing landscapes late 1700s - early 1800s United States and France.

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in that tumultuous, revolutionary period of history, any fan of memoirs, or any history enthusiast.

**eARC netgalley** ( )

Driven by liberty

There are two remarkable things about Living A Life That Matters. It is written in the first person, as autobiography. This gives it a vitality not often seen in third person biographies. It was a gamble by David Weitzman, but he has pulled it off with the aplomb of a Lafayette. Second and most remarkable is the hero of the tale, Gilbert Motier, Marquis de La Fayette. A more star-studded, eventful life there simply has not been.

In the first half of his life, Lafayette was enormously lucky. He was born into a wealthy family, and married into another. He defied the king by going to America to fight in the revolutionary war, but got two weeks of house arrest (with a wife he hadn’t seen in years) as “punishment”. He insinuated his way into George Washington’s heart because he was a fellow Freemason. Only 19, he demanded the rank of major general. He danced on the knife’s edge of the French Revolution, first supporting the king, then having him arrested when he tried to flee. So all sides suspected him, his loyalties and his intentions, but he escaped the guillotine that shortened the lives of so many others like him. His wife, who he left pregnant and with their baby daughter to go off to fight a war that wasn’t his, not only didn’t fight with him over his mistress, she embraced her and included her in family functions. She even tracked him down in prison in Austria, and got herself admitted there, to be with him until his release or death. Lafayette was a very lucky young man.

His second act was clearly different. The French Revolution took down anyone associated with royalty, nobility or religion, and Lafayette clearly had to go. He fled, and was caught, and spent five years in solitary, withering away. Incredibly, after years of searching, his wife and daughters joined him there, and the misery they endured shortened Adrienne’s life visibly. Her utter devotion would allow her to leave no stone unturned to be with him. She most dramatically helped him survive. In his weakened physical and financial state, he then bounced from effort to effort, frustrated in continual setbacks.

His one consistent focus, the force that unified his entire being, was liberty. He lived it and breathed it, and let it put him peril time and again. He abandoned his family, spent his fortune and stood up to power again and again for liberty.

The life he led was nothing less than astonishing. He was the personal friend of five US presidents, and crossed rhetorical swords with kings and emperors. He proved himself repeatedly to young men and women who would later rise to positions of power, to whom he could and did appeal for help. And they responded, from ambassadors to presidents. It was most definitely A Life That Matters, and is the most continuously remarkable lifestory in print.

David Wineberg ( )