Orders from France: The Americans and the French in a Revolutionary World, 1780-1820 - Softcover

Kennedy, Roger G.

9780812213287: Orders from France: The Americans and the French in a Revolutionary World, 1780-1820

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0812213289 ISBN 13: 9780812213287

Publisher: Univ of Pennsylvania Pr, 1991

A revealing and controversial look at the pervasive influence and activities of the French in America during the years of the French Revolution--published in connection with the French bicentennial. 150 halftones, 3 maps.

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From Publishers Weekly:

The French influence on U.S. architecture in the American Republic's formative years, as Kennedy demonstrates, went far beyond the modeling of Williamsburg, Va., on Versailles or the design of Washington, D.C., by Pierre-Charles L'Enfant. Enlivened by more than 150 illustrations, this absorbing, pleasantly rambling chronicle tells dozens of stories--of emigre French architects, adventurers, schemers and princes; of slave rebellions, wars, investment schemes, secret diplomacy; and of the American towns, forts, plantations, university campuses, houses and public buildings that bore a French stamp as a result of this cross-cultural interchange. French engineer Marc Brunel, protege of Aaron Burr, proposed the routes and techniques for building New York State's canals. And overlooking the Hudson River was Alexander Hamilton's estate, "The Grange," full of Creole architectural influences. Kennedy, director of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, links building styles to the traffic in ideas, goods and technology.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal:

Ever since the American Revolution, the alliance between America and France has formed an important subtext of American history, especially in the field of architecture. Director of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History and author of Architecture, Men, Women, and Money in America ( LJ 3/1/86), Kennedy here traces entertainingly the convoluted relations between the two countries until the onset of the Victorian era, when French influence waned. Architecture is merely a leitmotif, and not the focus, of this work, which addresses business, politics, and invention. Chatty, informed, and informative, this book exhibits architecture as an upper-class activity sponsored by the wealthy, the powerful, and the sensitive.
- Peter Kaufman, Florida A & M Univ., Tallahassee
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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