Law Prof. Joel Richard Paul was writing a book about the history of international law when he learned about an obscure figure in American history, Silas Deane. Deane had been a member of the Continental Congress who went to France in 1776 to negotiate with the French at Versailles. Nothing much had been written about him, and as Paul tried to find more resources about him, he discovered boxes of Deane's papers at the Connecticut Historical Society, long forgotten.

When he opened them, he discovered letters from George Washington and Benjamin Franklin as well as an incredible story. He gave up his other book and spent six years researching Deane's life. The remarkable story of how Paul found Deane's papers is paralleled in remarkable history in "Unlikely Allies."

The book is loaded with stranger-than-fiction stories, such as the questions of whether a French diplomat and spy, Chevalier d'Eon, who becomes a key player in Deane's European affairs, is a man or a woman. D'Eon's gender was a scandal when he (or she?) was alive, and at one point was so hotly contested that Londoners wagered large amounts on the question. Answering which wager won would be a major spoiler -- but Paul does an admirable job of handling the difficult task of whether to use he or she until the end.

The third main character of the book is another diplomat, Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais, who happens to be the same fellow who wrote "The Barber of Seville" and "The Marriage of Figaro." Who knew?

The list of incredible, true stories in this book includes, to name a few: stolen letters, invisible ink, spies slashing themselves to fake an attack, homosexual affairs, triple-decker headdresses and riches-to-rags dramas. Paul's prose can veer on the ingenuous at times, and his cliff-hanging chapter endings are cloying. But despite the sexy hardback cover, this is solid, groundbreaking history, well researched and with a narrative arc that guides you through the labyrinths of Louis XV's court, colonial insurrections and British intransigence.

Why does this history, sordid as it is, matter? Because as Paul warns, "[b]y placing the founders of our nation on a pedestal, we risk setting up an impossible standard for future generations to follow." We should remember all the deeds and players on the stage of our country's birth, including the sordid ones, and including Silas Deane, whose actions, like the papers Paul discovered, we inexplicably forgot.

Anne Trubek teaches at Oberlin College in Ohio and writes a literature column for Good magazine.