Washington: A Life

by Ron Chernow

reviewed March 2012

 

I first became somewhat interested in learning more about the life of George Washington when I read David McCullough’s excellent biography on the second U.S. President, John Adams. Like most casual Americans, what did I really know about George Washington? Well, we all know he was our first President, he’s known as “The Father of Our Country”, commanded the troops during the American Revolution, has his face on the one dollar bill, and oh yeah....he crossed the Delaware or something.

So I was pleasantly surprised to see this book released shortly after I completed the McCullough biography, and was pleasantly enticed by the positive feedback this book received. So I thought “Why not”? A wise choice indeed. Chernow’s biography is simply enthralling.

For whatever reason, the years of Washington’s youth are mostly absent from this biography, yet this is not a deterrent. Possibly we simply don’t have documentation that gives an adequate enough picture of his growing up. We learn that his father died when he was quite young, and that is mother was a bit of a basket case. So it’s actually fortunate that the book seems to leap straight to the French-Indian War, which is where Washington’s real story begins. He quickly earns his reputation on the battlefield, and when the story shifts (rather quickly) to the American Revolution, it’s no surprise that Washington winds up as General of the Army.

This is where the book really picks up steam, and at many times, I felt as though I wasn’t necessarily reading about Washington, but about the bloody conflict itself. That’s not to say this detour was unwelcome. Quite the contrary. Chernow paints an incredibly bleak picture of the American Revolution, and what was actually done by so few hardened men to achieve the country’s eventual independence. Desertion, quite obviously, was grotesquely high, and the soldier’s rations and equipment were threadbare. Quite often the fighting soldiers not only had no uniforms, but they had no clothes at all and fought the British stark naked. Pretty scary - especially when the brutality of places such as Valley Forge are mentioned in gruesome detail. On a quick side note, Valley Forge was not actually a battle, yet a camp where soldiers waited out the winter months. Apparently battles weren’t actually fought during the frigid months centuries ago.

Washington’s traits as a leader really shine throughout during this phase of the book and even though he really did lose more battles than he won (as legend tells us), and the American independence probably would never have been achieved had not the French and Germans stepped in to “help” (they didn’t like England either), you begin to learn that General Washington was undoubtably the best man for the job.

We learn about his personality as well. He was quite the introvert, who never liked a lot of hoopla, and seemed almost to resent his celebrity status that he achieved at the conclusion of the war, and would continue up until his death. He truly was the country’s first movie star. It’s quite amazing at how revered he was throughout the whole country. The book details incidents where travelers would always detour their journeys so they would have to stop at Mount Vernon to get a glimpse of the man. As was the custom, the Washington’s would always welcome their random visitors, usually inviting them to dine and spend the night, although this was probably out of obligation, as Washington never seemed to feel comfortable with his celebrity status.

Nor was he particularly wealthy. The book tells us in (almost too much) detail about how his estate at Mount Vernon was never particularly profitable, and he seemed to be always just barely getting by. He even owned a multitude of slaves, and we hear many times throughout about the moral dilemma that this always raised in Washington’s heart. Like probably a lot of people, he knew the institution of slavery was wrong, yet he simply didn’t see how he could be profitable without free labor.

When the book turns to Washington’s presidency, it’s not without much debate amongst the new nation that he’s “elected” the first president. The story becomes very interesting here as well since our country was still trying to figure out “what exactly does a President do?” and “How long does he stay President?” or “What do we even call him?” It’s quite interesting to note that even in our country’s political infancy, there was already mudslinging between the two political parties (which were then the Federalists and the Democrat-Republicans). You simply want to shake your head, and it truly makes you wonder if partisanship will ever be truly diminished.

Like many of our most popular American figures, there are many biographies of Washington out there, and some aren’t that old. I truly can’t say if this one is the best, nor the definitive, but it definitely was well worth the 900 pages or so, and you feel so much more learned about one of the truly great heroes of our country.

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