Table of Contents

Contents: Prologue: The Discovery Introduction Part I: A French Chevaliere Chapter 1: Maiden Voyage Chapter 2: Foreign Minister Vergennes Chapter 3: Tonnerre Chapter 4: D'Eon's Patrons Chapter 5: Rose Bertin Chapter 6: Marie-Antoinette Chapter 7: Franklin and Voltaire Chapter 8: Public Perceptions Chapter 9: D'Eon on d'Eon Chapter 10: The Hopes of a Good Portrait Part II: The Rise and Fall of a Statesman Chapter 11: Louis XV's Diplomacy Chapter 12: The King's Secret Chapter 13: Conti and Russia Chapter 14: The Russian Myth Reexamined Chapter 15: Diplomacy in Russia Chapter 16: Dragoon Captain Chapter 17: Making Peace Chapter 18: The Secret in England Chapter 19: Reversal of Fortune Chapter 20: Recalled Chapter 21: D'Eon to Louis XV and Broglie Chapter 22: Broglie to Louis XV Chapter 23: Scapegoat Chapter 24: The "Lettres, memoires, et negociations" Chapter 25: Libel Chapter 26: Indictment Chapter 27: Royal Decree of 1 April 1766Part III: Inside d'Eon's Librar yChapter 28: D'Eon to Jean-Jacques Rousseau Chapter 29: Rousseau's Disciple Chapter 30: D'Eon's Library Chapter 31: Pompadour and La Pucelle Chapter 32: Contra Rousseau Part IV: The Transformatio nChapter 33: Contexts Chapter 34: Rumors Chapter 35: Drouet's Visit Chapter 36: Macauley, d'Espinay, and the "Femme Savante" Chapter 37: Hannah Snell and the Amazons Chapter 38: Morande Chapter 39: Louis XVI Chapter 40: The Letter to Poissonier Chapter 41: The Transaction Chapter 42: Beaumarchais Bets Chapter 43: Beaumarchais "To Mlle Genev. L. Deon de Beaumont" Chapter 44: D'Eon to Beaumarchais Chapter 45: D'Eon Sues Morande Chapter 46: Lord Mansfield's Court Part V: D'Eon's Christian Feminis mChapter 47: Considering Convents Chapter 48: Reborn Again Chapter 49: Return to England Chapter 50: Gendered Theology Chapter 51: Christian Feminist Notes Bibliography of Works By and About d'Eon

Promotional Information

"A fascinating book. Monsieur d'Eon Is a Woman is instructive and a delight to read all at the same time."-Quentin Crisp

About the Author

Gary Kates is dean of the college and vice president for academic affairs at Pomona College. He is co-editor and translator, with Roland A. Champagne and Nina Ekstein, of The Maiden of Tonnerre: The Vicissitudes of the Chevalier and the Chevaliere d'Eon, also available from Johns Hopkins.

Reviews

With great verve, lucidity and admirable restraint, Gary Kates guides us through the setbacks and switchbacks of the Chevalier's odd history. -- Francine Prose Newsday D'Eon's story comes alive in Kates' capable hands, allowing us to lose ourselves in this 18th-century gender-bender. San Francisco Chronicle A terrific tale, told with suspense and style and interpreted with wisdom and restraint. The Nation Why did d'Eon, at the age of forty-nine, let it be known that he was a woman after having cut quite a figure as a diplomat and a soldier? That is the question Gary Kates sets himself in the latest biography [of d'Eon]. It is also the best, not at all an exercise in petite histoire but a book built around questions of gender and narrated in a lively manner, which makes those questions seem anything but academic. -- Robert Darnton New York Review of Books

With great verve, lucidity and admirable restraint, Gary Kates guides us through the setbacks and switchbacks of the Chevalier's odd history. -- Francine Prose Newsday D'Eon's story comes alive in Kates' capable hands, allowing us to lose ourselves in this 18th-century gender-bender. San Francisco Chronicle A terrific tale, told with suspense and style and interpreted with wisdom and restraint. The Nation Why did d'Eon, at the age of forty-nine, let it be known that he was a woman after having cut quite a figure as a diplomat and a soldier? That is the question Gary Kates sets himself in the latest biography [of d'Eon]. It is also the best, not at all an exercise in petite histoire but a book built around questions of gender and narrated in a lively manner, which makes those questions seem anything but academic. -- Robert Darnton New York Review of Books