Last Refuge of Scoundrels

The founding fathers of our country are lambasted in this strikingly raunchy account of the Revolutionary War. It seems America's revolution, led by such bumbling, incompetent idiots as John Hancock and Samuel Adams, would never have been possible without the brilliance of a street whore and her star-crossed lover. George Washington lies on his deathbed, terrified of having ""lost himself"" and being remembered not as George, but as the General. During his last few breaths, he is given a chance to redeem his spirit by recollecting the Revolution as it really was, through the eyes of an ""angel,"" his former aide-de-camp, John Lawrence. John's recollections start in 1765, when this 14-year-old spoiled merchant's son ditches his tutors and roams the streets of Boston, eventually meeting one of John Hancock's whores, 16-year-old Deborah Simpson. The savvy Deborah sees through the hypocrisies of the founding fathers but believes in the truth of the cause. John spends the rest of his life following in Deborah's wake as she ignites the fires of revolution, fighting alongside men, spying for both sides and strategically planning everything from munitions storage to ambush attacks. John and Deborah are present at such historical scenes as the Boston Massacre, the battles at Lexington and Concord, and the Valley Forge horror. They both die unrecognized for their contributions. History, according to Lussier's debut novel, has done us a grand injustice by painting our independence from England as a war of ethics, led by morally upstanding citizens fed up with taxation without representation. Whether his intent is revisionist history or comic satire, Lussier, who formerly wrote for TV and now writes and produces movies for Warner Bros. Studios, certainly takes irreverence to new extremes. History scholars will take umbrage with Lussier's iconoclastic portraits, but general readers tired of present-day politics may find the novel an escapist fantasy. (Feb. 8)