On 18 April 1775, a riot over the price of flour broke out in Dijon. That night, across the Atlantic, Paul Revere mounted the fastest horse he could find and kicked it into a gallop. So began what have been called the "sister revolutions" of France and America.In a thrilling narrative, James R. Gaines tells the story of the revolutions, showing how deeply intertwined they were. Their leaders, George Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette, began as courtiers in a hierarchy of privilege but history remembers them as patriot-citizens in a commonwealth of equals. They were seen as father and son but their relationship was as complex as the history of the French-American alliance. Vain, tough, ambitious, they strove to shape their characters and records into the form they wanted history to remember. Gaines provides fascinating insights into these personal transformations and shows the extraordinary effect of these "freedom fighters" on history.