by DAVID A. CLARY

In ADOPTED SON: Washington, Lafayette and the Friendship That Saved the Revolution, historian David A. Clary has written the first dual biography of George Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette, focusing on the extraordinary friendship between two towering historical figures whose interdependence and mutual admiration aided in America’s victory in the Revolutionary War, led the way for the French Revolution, and helped shape the very principles on which the United States was founded.

ADOPTED SON breathes new life into the story of these unlikely comrades-in-arms: George Washington, a self-taught Virginia planter and the reluctant commander of a ragtag army of revolutionaries, and the Marques de Lafayette, a glory-seeking teenage French aristocrat. 

Already a renowned enfant terrible in his home country, Lafayette’s bold defiance of his king as a teenager earned him celebrity status in France, while his money and connections attracted the favor of the Continental Congress.  But beneath the bluster was the soul of lonely orphan who had lost his father at an early age. 

Once in America, Lafayette forged a special bond with the normally aloof Washington—a middle aged man with no children of his own—that developed into one as strong as any between father and son.  As the war ground on, their relationship developed and Washington found in his young charge the makings of a courageous and talented commander and one of the war’s most effective and inspired generals. 

ADOPTED SON reveals the full historic impact of their friendship, one that would have repercussions on both sides of the Atlantic, and in the decades, and centuries, to come.


Illustrated with maps and images throughout and using personal letters and other key historical documents, ADOPTED SON gives readers dramatic accounts of battles and intimate portraits of such major figures as Alexander Hamilton, Benedict Arnold, and Benjamin Franklin while revealing the most complete portrait ever drawn of the remarkable private and public relationship between two legendary leaders.

The result is an epic of friendship, revolution, and the birth of a nation.
After reading ADOPTED SON you will know why Americans landing on the Normandy beaches on June 6 1944 shouted: “Lafayette, we are here!”