This is the last in a series of books by Irish intellectual O'Brien arguing that the French Revolution was not an extension of the principles of the American Revolution, but a negation of those principles. It examines the presidency of George Washington, focusing on the dissension between Washington and Jefferson regarding the extremist tactics of the French Revolution. An introduction by Christopher Hitchens, a commentator representing the opposite end of the political spectrum from O'Brien, puts the interpretation into the larger context of O'Brien's work on the importance of rational discourse over ideology. O'Brien was a diplomat and scholar. Annotation c2010 Book News, Inc. , Portland, OR (booknews. com)
