Title: Washington: A Life
Author: Ron Chernow
Publisher: Penguin Press HC, The; 1St Edition edition
Publication Date: October 5, 2010
Hardcover: 904 pages
ISBN: 978-1594202667
Genre: Biography
From the Publisher:
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.
My Review:
Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow is not the typical dry historical biography, rather Chernow takes a different approach from many other biographies I have read in the past, and it is quite evident from the numerous pages of notes and bibliography at the end of the book that Chernow has taken his time to thoroughly research just who George Washington was. Chernow writes a very lengthy tome and in all fairness I am not certain there was anything that could have been left out. Washington: A Life is indeed just that, the telling of George Washington’s life, and what shaped him to become the man he was, both positively and negatively. Chernow writes an extremely well thought out, well laid out, and well balanced book describing not only George Washington, but also those around him who impacted his daily life. I truly enjoyed reading this version of George Washington’s life and no, it was not a book I read in one sitting, rather it is a book that is to be read and digested slowly over time. I have yet to read Chernow’s other biographies, but after reading Washington: A Life, I know I will find his other books to be equally well done. I highly recommend Washington: A Life to any history buff or those curious about the life of George Washington.
Ron Chernow is the prize-winning author of five previous books. His first, The House of Morgan, won the National Book Award. His two most recent books, Alexander Hamilton and Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, were both nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award in biography. Chernow lives in Brooklyn, New York.
For more reviews of the book, please follow the book tour.
I received a complimentary copy of Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow from TLC Book Tours to be a part of this tour and offer my honest review of the book. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of aforementioned book.
I have a feeling I’m not smart enough for this one.
I adore history, yet when the book arrived I was not quite certain I wanted/needed to know that much,however the book reads smoothly, transitions well throughout his life and by the end you feel as though you “know” George Washington, flaws and all. It is one I did not read straight through, it is very, very long.
I haven’t read any of Chernow’s books but it sounds like he really knows how to write a complete life and make it interesting.
Thanks for being a part of this tour – I’m very glad you enjoyed the book!
Heather,
The book was brilliant and i shall be looking into his other books.
This one has been on my shelf a long time. Your positive review is motivation to me
I was truly suprised with how much I enjoyed this book. I like biographies, but due to it’s length I thought it might be dry or dull, thankfully I was very wrong.
I love it when you read a book of that length and wouldn’t choose to cut any of it out. So glad you loved the book!
It is so nicely written one forgets the author did not know Washington.