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

Unger, Harlow Giles

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1684583160 ISBN 13: 9781684583164

Publisher: Brandeis University Press, 2026

Synopsis

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, though he was never paid or acknowledged by the United States. To some, he was a dashing hero, a towering intellect who saved the American Revolution. To others, he was a pure rogue, a double-dealing adventurer who stopped at nothing to advance his fame and fortune. In fact, he was both, and more: an advisor to kings, an arms dealer, and an author of some of the most enduring works of the stage, including The Marriage of Figaro and The Barber of Seville. Now in paperback, Improbable Patriot introduces readers to an unrecognized power player in the Revolutionary War.

About this title

About the Author

Harlow Giles Unger is the author of twenty-seven books, including the three-volume Encyclopedia of American Education and ten biographies of America’s founding fathers. He lives in New York City.

Edition details

• Publisher: Brandeis University Press
• Publication date: 2026
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1684583160
• ISBN 13: 9781684583164
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 252