Read "Surprising Facts About George Washington" from
Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow
From Pulitzer-prize winner Ron Chernow, a landmark
biography of George Washington.
In
Washington: A Life celebrated biographer Ron Chernow
provides a richly nuanced portrait of the father of our nation.
With a breadth and depth matched by no other one-volume life of
Washington, this crisply paced narrative carries the reader through
his troubled boyhood, his precocious feats in the French and Indian
War, his creation of Mount Vernon, his heroic exploits with the
Continental Army, his presiding over the Constitutional Convention,
and his magnificent performance as America''s first
president.
Despite the reverence his name inspires, Washington remains a
lifeless waxwork for many Americans, worthy but dull. A laconic man
of granite self-control, he often arouses more respect than
affection. In this groundbreaking work, based on massive research,
Chernow dashes forever the stereotype of a stolid, unemotional man.
A strapping six feet, Washington was a celebrated horseman, elegant
dancer, and tireless hunter, with a fiercely guarded emotional
life. Chernow brings to vivid life a dashing, passionate man of
fiery opinions and many moods. Probing his private life, he
explores his fraught relationship with his crusty mother, his
youthful infatuation with the married Sally Fairfax, and his often
conflicted feelings toward his adopted children and grandchildren.
He also provides a lavishly detailed portrait of his marriage to
Martha and his complex behavior as a slave master.
At the same time, Washington is an astute and surprising portrait
of a canny political genius who knew how to inspire people. Not
only did Washington gather around himself the foremost figures of
the age, including James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, John Adams,
and Thomas Jefferson, but he also brilliantly orchestrated their
actions to shape the new federal government, define the separation
of powers, and establish the office of the presidency.
In this unique biography, Ron Chernow takes us on a page-turning
journey through all the formative events of America''s founding.
With a dramatic sweep worthy of its giant subject,
Washington is a magisterial work from one of our most
elegant storytellers.
