By Ron Chernow
Penguin Press HC | 904pgs
Release Date: October 5, 2010

Summary:
Award-winning author Ron Chernow delves into the life of another iconic figure of American history in Washington: A Life. George Washington, the most revered of our nation’s founders, is portrayed as a man of volatile temper, deep passions and incredible political genius. Drawing on vast amounts of historical research, Chernow goes beyond the fables of cherry trees and wooden teeth to show a living, breathing human being rather than a two-dimensional reference in a history book. The tome spans the entirety of Washington’s life, following his difficult childhood, victories as a young soldier in the French and Indian War, participation in the Constitutional Convention, and his terms as the first President of the United States. Chernow also sheds light on Washington’s personal relationships, touching on his youthful romance with Sally Fairfax, the prickly relationship with his mother, and his marriage to Martha. The author examines the first President’s interior life through all of his professional and personal challenges and triumphs and reveals him to be a man of “deep feelings” who struggles to control his emotions throughout his life.

What critics are saying:
Washington: A Life is Ron Chernow’s sixth book. The House of Morgan, his first book, won the National Book Award, and his latest books Alexander Hamilton and Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller were National Book Critics Circle Award nominees. Critics have been raving about Chernow’s expansive research and original treatment of the oft written about Washington. From a historical perspective, not much new information is brought to light, though Max Byrd praises the author’s account of Washington’s moral ambivalence about slavery as “fresh and important” in a review for Barnes & Noble. Booklist also issued a glowing review: “Another book on Washington? is a question rendered pointless by this one, which happens to be the author’s masterpiece. Definitive Washington is the point and effect of this biography.”