Improbable Patriot: The Secret History of Monsieur de Beaumarchais, the French Playwright Who Saved the American Revolution

The compelling story of a little-known figure in the American Revolution, now available in paperback for the first time, with a new foreword by Iris de Rode.

In 1776, the playwright and inventor Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais (1732-99) conceived an audacious plan to send aid to the American rebels. What’s more, he convinced King Louis XVI to bankroll the project and single-handedly carried it out. By war’s end, he had supplied Washington’s army with most of its weapons and powder, t...