First published in French in 1792, Letters Written from the Banks
of the Ohio tells the fascinating story of French aristocrat
Claude-François de Lezay-Marnésia and the utopia he attempted to
create in what is now Ohio. Looking to build a perfect society
based on what France might have become without the Revolution,
Lezay-Marnésia bought more than twenty thousand acres of land
along the banks of the Ohio River from the Scioto Company, which
promised French aristocrats a fertile, conflict-free refuge. But
hostilities between the U.S. Army and the Native American tribes
who still lived on the land prevented the marquis from taking
possession. Ruined and on the verge of madness, Lezay-Marnésia
returned to France just as the Revolution was taking a more radical
turn. He barely escaped the guillotine before dying a few years
later in poverty and desperation. This edition of the Letters,
introduced and edited by Benjamin Hoffmann and superbly translated
by Alan J. Singerman, presents the work for the first time since
the beginning of the nineteenth century—and the first time ever
in English. The volume features a rich collection of supplementary
documents, including texts by Lezay-Marnésia’s son, Albert de
Lezay-Marnésia, and the American novelist Hugh Henry Brackenridge.
This fresh perspective on the young United States as it was
represented in French literature casts new light on a captivating
and tumultuous period in the history of two nations.
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