Background:

The Friends of the GW Libraries published Professor Bowling’s book in commemoration of their 30^th anniversary at GW.  This richly illustrated biography of the French-born American Peter L’Enfant is the first to look at its subject from the perspective of his times and contemporaries.  It focuses on the years before and after his famous plan for the city of Washington and on his relationships with such male friends and patrons as George Washington (whom L’Enfant made grovel), Alexander Hamilton (whom L’Enfant challenged to a duel), the Swedish Consul Richard Soderstrom (whom L’Enfant lost everything to in a “palimony” suit), and the retired spy Thomas Atwood Digges (in whose home L’Enfant at last found sanctuary).  The book concludes with L’Enfant’s resurrection and reburial at the turn of the 20^th Century as a Frenchman named Pierre Charles L’Enfant and with the role those events played in bringing the United States into World War I on the side of France rather than Germany.

Through volunteer library work and generous financial contributions, the Friends of the GW Libraries support, promote and enhance scholarly innovations in academic research and teaching in GW's five libraries and throughout the GW community.