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Book Reviews
'washington: a life': the person, not the persona.
Glenn C. Altschuler
Washington: A Life By Ron Chemow Hardcover, 928 pages The Penguin Press List Price: $40
Read An Excerpt
Just about every American knows that George Washington was commander-in-chief of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War and the first president of the United States. But very few know much more about him. Reserved, remote, elusive and enigmatic, the childless Father of Our Country seems to many of us to have been born middle-aged, in uniform, with powdered hair and false teeth, atop his famous steed, Old Nelson. Or, as Ron Chernow writes, a stiff figure "composed of too much marble to be quite human."
In Washington: A Life , Chernow, the author of splendid biographies of Alexander Hamilton and John D. Rockefeller, tries to capture the man from Mount Vernon as his contemporaries perceived him: credible, compassionate and charismatic. In his beautifully crafted, nuanced narrative, Chernow suggests that beneath the surface of Washington's buttoned-down personality lurched not only a titanic temper, but softer emotions. The struggle to put them in their proper place had an enormous impact on his behavior as a planter, politician, soldier and slaveholder.
Washington's greatness as a military leader should not be ascribed to his skills as a strategist. After all, he lost more battles than he won. And he pushed the French to abort their operation in Yorktown, in favor of a strike against New York. Nonetheless, by sheer force of will, he held together an inexperienced, ill-equipped, often unpaid, motley, mongrel army for more than eight years -- while fending off 13 selfish colonies, a feckless Continental Congress and his own doubts and depression.
Ron Chernow is the author of Alexander Hamilton , The House of Morgan , and Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. Nina Subin hide caption
Ron Chernow is the author of Alexander Hamilton , The House of Morgan , and Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr.
Chernow makes a compelling case that Washington was the only person capable of converting the Constitution, which said precious little about the presidency, into a "viable, elastic document." In doing so, he reconciled Americans to a strong executive branch, established dozens of precedents, from inaugural addresses to the title "Mr. President," and persuaded skeptics that a republican government could endure without reverting to monarchy -- or anarchy.
If he was a savior, Chernow's Washington was also no saint. Anything but an egalitarian, he often railed against the squalor and stupidity of enlisted men. Though he professed to oppose slavery, he regarded bondage as a fair economic exchange, and acknowledged that, in a pinch, he would trade slaves to settle debts. Ever cautious, Washington expressed in his will an earnest wish to emancipate, but deferred a decision until his wife's death.
From beyond the grave, Washington asked family members and friends to temper public adulation by minimizing "tedious tributes." He probably didn't mean it. In any event, as they mourned, Americans turned him into a civic deity. More than two centuries later, thanks in no small measure to Chernow's book, the best single-volume biography of Washington now in print, he's once again a man. And all the more worthy of our admiration.
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Excerpt: 'Washington: A Life'
COMMENTS
In this groundbreaking work, based on massive research, Chernow shatters forever the stereotype of George Washington as a stolid, unemotional figure and brings to vivid life a dashing, passionate man of fiery opinions and many moods.
Washington: A Life is a biography of George Washington, the first president of the United States, written by American historian and biographer Ron Chernow and published in 2010.
From National Book Award 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.
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 biography of George Washington, this crisply paced narrative carries the reader through his adventurous early years, his heroic exploits with the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, his presiding over the Constitutional Convention, and his magnificent performance as America's ...
In this groundbreaking work, based on massive research, Chernow shatters forever the stereotype of George Washington as a stolid, unemotional figure and brings to vivid life a dashing,...
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...
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.
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and a New York Times Bestseller, 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.
In Washington: A Life, Chernow, the author of splendid biographies of Alexander Hamilton and John D. Rockefeller, tries to capture the man from Mount Vernon as his contemporaries perceived him:...