In 1789, as the French Revolution convulsed Europe, the fledgling United States struggled with financial insolvency, regional separatism, and bitter political divisions. Here the author of In the Name of the Father considers this formative era through the lives of five Frenchmen in America: Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord; Rochefoucauld, the duc de Liancourt; Louis-Marie Vicomte de Noailles; Moreau de Saint-Méry; and Constantin-François Chasseboeuf, Comte Volney. Liberal aristocrats and anglophiles, they fled the bloodlust and chaos of France to join the new republic, influencing U.S. history and policy through such turning points as the diplomatic struggles of the 1790s, the Haitian Revolution, and the Louisiana Purchase.