As fond of Harlow Unger’s historical books as I am, I initially struggled to enjoy this book. I failed to put my finger on my disjoint with The French War Against America.
Was it his writing? My impression was his heart may not have been in the book; perhaps he was heartbroken at learning the duality of French “assistance” during the Revolutionary War. I have learned that he is something of a Francophile and I imagine him crushed in light of the French crown’s subterfuge. This sense of half-hearted writing later changes to full enthusiasm.

Could it have been the subject matter? Having noted in his other books, an impassioned, yet equally detached retelling of historical events this book seemed to lack the devotion to its subject matter. As well, having previously read his last book, Improbable Patriot, The French War seemed to be an emaciated fleshing out of notes that formed the skeleton of Improbable Patriot. At times I found myself thinking I had read this before, only to realize much of the same story was being recounted; my perception however, likely colored my enjoyment of the early part of The French War Against America.

Or, was my difficulty finding abject interest simply an undetermined mix of shortcomings on my account? Unlike his previous books, which I finished in days (or one case, hours), I struggled to read a chapter quickly. Setting the book aside for three months, I had only reached the fifty-second page. Feeling pangs of guilt as if I was betraying Mr. Unger, I would try to read more only to find its text still incompatible with my current mindset. That is until yesterday. Something clicked and I found the substance compelling; I have no clear reason why anything was different, it just was.

I definitely do not wish to dissuade anyone from reading this book. Why would this history not be taught or collectively understood? No other historian or account I have read until now has made the slightest hint at France’s assistance, materiel and monetary aid which turned the tide for America’s resounding victory in the war of independence from Britain, was less than altruistic. France’s cloak of cooperation with and for Americans was not woven with a thread of concern for the inhabitants of North America. Ever since their landing here in the sixteenth century, the French had desires to expand their claims on the continent.

A history of double agents, bribery at the highest level of America’s fledgling government, duplicity and signing of treaties they had no intentions of abiding by, the French used covert tactics to maintain any foothold in North America. The Americans were used as a proxy in the French’s war against Britain. Violent revolutions and despotic monarchal changes did not stanch the desire to commit infanticide to the newly formed American government. A constant dispatch of ambassadors worked to continually attempt inciting insurrections via “Democratic Societies.” An impotent President Washington administration, hamstrung by treaties and international niceties compounded by the fact America was navy-less, could only plead to French monarchs to stop privateering from American ports; the French goal was twofold, fight the British and swell their depleted treasury with pirated loot.

The intrigue is fascinating, more so because none of this seems to be common knowledge in modern day politics. In the last few chapters, Mr. Unger quickly races through the centuries before the reader even knows it. He expertly ties one war to another and illustrates how the French have never really shed its collective anti-Americanism. He dedicates the final chapter to modern day socialist policies and a critique of the enarch and a stifled nation where no innovation is allowed to occur.

As disagreeable as this review may sound, I have no disrespect in writing this book seemed to be a 236 page build up to his primary theme: France’s anti-Americanism knows no bounds and as much as their elites rail against America, no county reaches their history of imperialism and hegemony. Speaking on a scale of nation, those in glass countries shouldn’t cast stones decrying American slavery, imperialism, elitism and despotic governance… ( )