The Peasant Prince: Thaddeus Kosciuszko and the Age of Revolution,
by Alex Storozynski
http://peasantprince.com/
I'm sure you know that Thomas Jefferson, the man who wrote, “All men are created
equal,” was a hypocrite because he owned slaves. But did you know that General
Thaddeus Kosciuszko gave Jefferson $17,000 and asked him to buy slaves and free
them? And while Jefferson took the money – he refused to carry out the deal.
This is all outlined in a new book – The Peasant Prince: Thaddeus Kosciuszko and the Age of
Revolution, by Alex Storozynski. http://peasantprince.com/
Unfortunately, most Americans only know Kosciuszko as a brand of mustard, a bridge in
Br ooklyn, or the town in Mississippi where Oprah Winfrey was born. But he was a true
Americ an hero.
With the 4th of July coming up, this would make a great segment for your show.
Kosciuszko joined the Continental Army in 1776, and after building forts near Philadelphia; he
devised the plan for the Battle of Saratoga – the turning point of the American Revolution.
He also drafted the blueprints for West Point that Benedict Arnold tried to se ll to the British. After
the war, his last wi ll and testament donated his General9s salary from the Revolution to buy and
free Thomas Jefferson’s slaves. The document also asked Jefferson to educate these new free
“citizens” and to buy them land, cattle and farming tools so they could earn their own living.
Kosciuszko fought for the rights of black slaves, white peasa nt serfs, Jews, Native Americans
and women. His motto was “For your freedom and ours!” and Jefferson said of him: “He is as
pure a son of liberty, as I have ever known, and of that liberty which is to go to all, and not to the
few or rich alone.”
Newsweek calls it “stirring” and “absorbing ,” while Publi sher’s Weekly says it will
“enthrall devotees… expert crafting of a readable and fact filled story that pulls readers
in…”
– George Washington and Benjamin Franklin praised him.
– Benedict Arnold tried to steal his plans for West Point.
– Thomas Jefferson called him “the pu rest son of liberty I have ever known.”
– African slaves fought for him.
-- Native Americans gave him a peace pipe.
– Jewish cavalry leader Berek Joselewicz called him “a messenger from God.”
– Napoleon called him “the hero of the North.”
-- Russian Czarina Catherine the Great put a price on his head – “dead or alive.”
Newsweek calls The Peasant Prince “stirring”
“Alex Storozynski has just published 'The Peasant Prince: Thaddeus Kosciuszko and the Age of
Revolution,’ a sweeping, colorful, and absorbing biography that should restore Kosciuszko to his
proper place in history.”
Andrew Nagorski, Newsweek
http:// www.newsweek.com/id/195937
Alex Storozynski talks about Kosciuszko on C-SPAN's Book TV
http://www.c-spanarchives.org/library/vidLink.php?b=1244923205&e=1244927105&n=2
The Peasant Prince on The Diane Rehm Show on NPR
http://wamu.org/programs/dr/09/06/11.php
Chicago Sun Times
http://www.suntimes.com/entertainment/books/1563884,kosciuszko-peasant-prince-storozynski050709.article?
Newsday, Ellis Henican
"No wonder there's20a bridge named in his honor… Imagine how famous he'd be if Ame ricans
could actually spell his name. With The Peasant Prince: Thaddeus Kosciuszko and the Age of
Revolution,” Alex Storozynski finally gives=2 0the colorful Polish general the sweeping biography
he deserves. Only George Washington has more statues in his honor across the U.S., and you
still can't get from Queens to Brooklyn on the GWB."
http://www.newsday.com/news/columnists/ny-nyhen1712773802may16,0,69629 58.column
Publisher’s Weekly
“Readers of military and American history should take note: the minute details
will enthrall devotees. Casual readers will benefit from Storozynski’s expert
crafting of a readable and fact-filled story that pulls readers into the immediacy of
the revolutionary era’s partisan and financial troubles.
The Jewish State
Thaddeus Kosciuszko’s revolutionary story
http://thejewishstate.net/june509kosciuszko.html
National Review Online: Read an excerpt from The Peasant Prince
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NjZjM2ZmOGVlYWEyYzY4OWQ0YjhjZWQy
YTExMjVjZTU=
Jay Freeman, Booklist
“This is a well-written tribute to an interesting and certainly admirable man.”
Pulitzer winner crafts book on legendary hero Kosciuszko
The New York Daily News
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/queens/2009/04/14/2009-0414_pulitzer_winner_crafts_book_on_legendary_hero_kosciuszko.html
David Lee Poremba, Library Journal
“Storozynski has written a complete biography of a truly great republican. Strongly recommended
for both lay readers and specialists.”
Read more at: http://peasantprince.com/
Alex Storozynski
President & Executive Director
The Kosciuszko Foundation
15 East 65th Street
New York, NY 10065
212-734-2130
http://thekf.org/
http://peasantprince.com/
The Wall Street Journal
BOOK REVIEW
The Peasant Prince:
Kosciuszko and the
Age of Revolution
By ARAM BAKSHIAN JR.
When the great African-American educator and human-rights pioneer Booker T. Washington visited
Krakow, Poland, in 1910, he made a special point of paying tribute to a dead white male with the nighunpronounceable name of Tadeusz Andrzej Bonawentura Kosciuszko.
"I knew from my school history what Kosciuszko had done for America in its early struggle for
independence," Washington would later write. "I did not know, however, until my attention was called
to it in Krakow, what Kosciuszko had done for the freedom and education of my own people. . . . When
I visited the tomb of Kosciuszko, I placed a rose on it in the name of my race."
In his views on race, as in so many other matters, Tadeusz (Thaddeus in English) Kosciuszko (17461811) was a man ahead of his time.
CLICK TO READ The Wall Street Journal BOOK REVIEW
Book Signing at Barnes & Noble
Alex Storozynski
Peasant Prince:
Thaddeus Kosciuszko
and the Age of Revolution
Monday June 22, 2009 7:00 PM
82nd & Broadway
2289 Broadway, New York, NY 212-362-8835