HOW THE FRENCH SAVED AMERICA: SOLDIERS, SAILORS, DIPLOMATS, LOUIS XVI, AND THE SUCCESS OF A REVOLUTION

April 7, 2017

St. Martin’s Press in September 2017: HOW THE FRENCH SAVED AMERICA: SOLDIERS, SAILORS, DIPLOMATS, LOUIS XVI, AND THE SUCCESS OF A REVOLUTION.

Pre-publication praise:

“The author makes a convincing case that, without France, the United States may never have gained independence.” Kirkus Reviews.

“Shachtman illuminates the impact of French contributions to American military leadership, resources, and engineering knowledge, while also paying close attention to the effects of French-led international negotiations with Britain and Spain. Throughout he emphasizes the roles played by King Louis XVI, the Marquis de Lafayette, and others who worked closely with more-well-known American figures such as George Washington and Benjamin Franklin….. Of interest to American-history enthusiasts and Francophiles alike.” Publishers Weekly.

“A terrific read, incredibly researched, vivid, persuasive, wonderful details and analysis – everything you want history to be.” Constance Rosenblum, former section editor, The New York Times.

“At last a full and compelling account of the crucial role that France and the French played in the American Revolutionary War. This book deserves a place on the bookshelf of every American history buff.” Jeswald Salacuse, Distinguished Professor and Former Dean, The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University.

Publication of ECHOES, OR THE INSISTENCE OF MEMORY, August 2023. Pre-orders available on Amazon and Madville Publishing

Manuscript evaluation and editing for individual students based on my extensive publication history and many years teaching at major university writing programs.

Fees and schedules available upon request. Payment by Paypal or check…

Published in 2020: THE MEMOIR OF THE MINOTAUR, a novel, from Madville Publishing; and THE FOUNDING FORTUNES: HOW THE WEALTHY PAID FOR AND PROFITED FROM AMERICA’S REVOLUTION, from St. Martin’s Press.

Podcast about THE FOUNDING FORTUNES with Walter Woodward, State Historian for Connecticut

Digital-Only Publications

The first volumes in my historical novel series, The Eagle’s Claw, about a secret, private organization that undertakes tasks for the President – some illegal, some scandalous, and all extraordinary — that the government cannot do but that need doing.

“The Pirate of Lake Erie,”

and
“The Perilous Letter of the Apalachicola.”

… and the non-fiction tale, The Commies, the Jewish Mob, the Union and My Grandfather: The Fur-Worker Wars of the 1920s.

Photo (c) by Anne Day
Hi, I’m Tom Shachtman, author, filmmaker and educator. I’ve written forty books, mostly for mainstream publishers, as well as television documentaries seen on ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, and other channels, and lectured at universities from Harvard to Georgia Tech to Stanford, and at libraries from the New York Public to the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian, the Newberry in Chicago, and the Hoover Institution.

My trilogy of books providing new perspectives on the American Revolution are now all in print. THE FOUNDING FORTUNES (2020); HOW THE FRENCH SAVED AMERICA (2017); and GENTLEMEN SCIENTISTS AND REVOLUTIONARIES (2014).

Earlier books continue to attract attention.

ABSOLUTE ZERO was recently reviewed as an important classic in the
Feb. 1, 2022 issue of Forbes

WHOEVER FIGHTS MONSTERS, written with Robert K. Ressler, an international bestseller, is now a must-have audio book for those interested in serial killers. AMERICAN ICONOCLAST, my biography of Eric Hoffer, the “longshoreman philosopher,” was occasion for a recent interview with Canadian Broadcasting. In December 2019, SKYSCRAPER DREAMS, my history of the builders of New York City, was the top recommendation for holiday reading of the real-estate industry magazine The Real Deal. ABSOLUTE ZERO AND THE CONQUEST OF COLD was featured on several recent must-read lists of popular science.

More details about these and other books are in the following pages of this website. Read on!