LAFAYETTE: A Life

Virtually a dark horse, but the impetus of the February Literary Guild selection will give it the good start it richly deserves, as one of the most dramatic biographies of Lafayette, I have chanced to read. Not only does the author give a very real psychological picture of the man himself, but he creates a vital sense of the shifting panorama of the changing world against which he moved, of the forces against which he battled, of the impact of violent contrasts on his temperament and idealism. There is enough of anecdotal and colorful human interest material -- plus the always intriguing revolutionary background to give it a popular flavor.