Includes bibliographical references (p. 516-531) and index After viewing product detail pages, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in. Ron Chernow is the prizewinning author of six previous books and the recipient of the 2015 National Humanities Medal.His first book, The House of Morgan, won the National Book Award, Washington: A Life won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography, and Alexander Hamilton--the inspiration for the Broadway musical--won the George Washington Book Prize.A past president of PEN America, Chernow has been … This harried, disheveled man was scarcely the sort to appeal to the immaculately formal George Washington. Gouverneur Morris agreed that Washington had "the tumultuous passions which accompany greatness and frequently tarnish its luster. The upshot, I hope, will be that readers, instead of having a frosty respect for Washington, will experience a visceral appreciation of this foremost American who scaled the highest peak of political greatness. This growth went on subtly, at times imperceptibly, beneath the surface, making Washington the most interior of the founders. Instead of opening up with Stuart, he retreated behind his stolid mask. 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 first president. In addition to Alexander Hamilton, the production also features George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Aaron Burr, Lafayette, and many more. The book is a "one-volume, cradle-to-grave narrative" that attempts to provide a fresh portrait of Washington as "real, credible, and charismatic in the same way he was perceived by his contemporaries". By gleaning anecdotes and quotes from myriad sources, especially from hundreds of eyewitness accounts, I have tried to make him vivid and immediate, rather than the lifeless waxwork he has become for many Americans, and thereby elucidate the secrets of his uncanny ability to lead a nation. Not sure how this book affected my opinion of George Washington though. Here is the impetuous young officer whose miraculous survival in combat half-convinced him that he could not be killed. Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and others demanded life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for themselves, of course, but not for the men, women, and … He stalked Washington's trusted friend Chief Justice John Jay and rendered a brilliant portrait of him, seated in the full majesty of his judicial robes. 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 … He had an arduous journey from a very young age to his final breath. Please try again. So adept was Washington at masking these turbulent emotions behind his fabled reserve that he ranks as the most famously elusive figure in American history, a remote, enigmatic personage more revered than truly loved. Advanced embedding details, examples, and help! There was an error retrieving your Wish Lists. Epic - highly recommended but a couple of issues. And never before has there been a more vivid account of Hamilton’s famous and mysterious death in a duel with Aaron Burr in July of 1804.Chernow’s biography is not just a portrait of Hamilton, but the story of America’s birth seen through its most central figure. He joined in this conspiracy to make himself unknowable. First Ron Chernow book that I have read. I realised that I didn't really know anything about Washington the man and I wasn't inspired by those doughy-faced portraits of him. It does not veer more than necessary into the times, sticking as closely as possible to the subject. Your recently viewed items and featured recommendations, Select the department you want to search in, No Import Fees Deposit & $11.96 Shipping to Germany. Where other founders gloried in their displays of intellect, Washington's strategy was the opposite: the less people knew about him, the more he thought he could accomplish. In recent decades, many fine short biographies of Washington have appeared as well as perceptive studies of particular events, themes, or periods in his life. Washington: A Life deserves kudos for its painstaking use of primary source material to re-construct the world in which George Washington lived, but it does not rise to the level of my favorite historical biographies because it too often eschews analysis (save for the occasional paragraph or two at the end of certain chapters). It's incredible how much this book has pulled me in as an English person. 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.Lin-Manuel Miranda’s smash Broadway musical Hamilton has sparked new interest in the Revolutionary War and the Founding Fathers. 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