WHEN THE UNITED STATES SPOKE FRENCH Five Refugees Who Shaped a Nation

Narrator Suzanne Toren puts her intimate knowledge of French literature, language, and culture to good use in this fascinating examination of one of the least discussed decades in American history--the 1790s. In those years, when Philadelphia was the capital of the nation and the French Revolution was careening toward the Reign of Terror, many French aristocrats decided to make America their home away from home. Speaking with a decidedly American accent and good humor, Toren describes plans to create French settlements in Maine and plots to drag the U.S. into a war with England. But somehow the sound of a U.S. president named Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord just didn't stick. B.P. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine [Published: DECEMBER 2014]