“As sincere an American as any Frenchman can be” — Lafayette Between Two Wo

The Marquis de Lafayette, who volunteered to fight the British under George Washington and led the French National Guard after the storming of the Bastille, has been called the "Hero of Two Worlds" and "America’s Favorite Fighting Frenchman." Building on her major page-turning biography of Lafayette, Laura Auricchio asks us to see him as both more complicated and more human than these storybook monikers suggest. Lafayette lived between France and America, between monarchy and republic, between old and new, and was never fully at home on either side of these divides. Writing to Thomas Jefferson in 1784, James Madison pointed to this complexity, calling Lafayette “as sincere an American as any Frenchman can be.” 

Drawing on substantial new research conducted in libraries, archives, and museums in France and the United States, Auricchio presents a sweeping history through the life of a single individual, challenging myths that surround Lafayette’s name and complicating received wisdom about the revolutions that shaped his legacy.

Laura Auricchio is a specialist in eighteenth-century French and American art history who received her undergraduate degree from Harvard and her Ph.D. from Columbia University. Auricchio has been the recipient of fellowships and awards from the Fulbright Foundation, the Whiting Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and other organizations. Her book The Marquis: Lafayette Reconsidered (Alfred A. Knopf) won the 2015 American Library in Paris book award. She has taught at Connecticut College and Parsons School of Design and served as both Dean and Vice Provost at The New School. In 2024, after completing a 5-year term as Dean of Fordham College at Lincoln Center and Professor of Art History at Fordham University, she joined the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation as Vice President.

This event is free and open to the public, but please note that registration does not guarantee a seat. We intentionally overbook our events, and seating is first come, first served. We recommend arriving early.

Important:

Columbia’s campus is currently open only to Columbia-affiliated guests (with a valid CUID).
If you do not have a Columbia ID, you will need a QR code to enter campus.

To receive a QR code:

• You must register on Eventbrite at least 48 hours in advance
• We will submit your name and email to Public Safety
• You will receive an email from with your unique QR code on the day of the event.

Please check your spam/junk folder if you don’t see the email, and bring a valid photo ID with you to present at campus entry points.

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

Get App

Host or Publisher CU Maison Française