Blooding at Great Meadows: Young George Washington and the Battle that Shaped the Man [Hardcover]

Alan Axelrod (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 24, 2007

Somewhere between chopping down the cherry tree and crossing the Delaware River-a triumph of the will that changed the course of the American Revolution-George Washington had the epiphany that turned him into one of the world’s greatest tacticians and leaders. Alan Axelrod presents a riveting argument that it happened at Great Meadows, a remote western Pennsylvania battlefield where the inexperienced 22-year-old lieutenant colonel from Virginia met a highly skilled French army and suffered a terrible defeat. When it was over, a third of his men lay fallen. Washington walked away, but in a sense left much of himself dead on the field as well, to be reborn as the great man we know as our founding president. His ability to use the experience of defeat to achieve eventual greatness is an inspirational tale that’s retold daily in the stories of the leaders of our own time. Blooding at Great Meadows features not only an exciting and thought-provoking narrative, but examines the significance of Washington’s actual dispatches, along with recent archeological findings from Great Meadows. This was essentially the battle that started the French and Indian Wars. Was it also the battle that “fathered” the father of our country? Fans of Washington and American history will surely want to find out.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...This well-researched book gives readers a good understanding of the forces that shaped Washington's character....Reading like an adventure story." -- Tribune-Review (Greensburg, PA), December 30, 2007

"...well-researched, well-told tale." -- Washington Times, December 30, 2007

About the Author

Alan Axelrod is the author of numerous books on the subjects of history, business, and management, including Elizabeth I: CEO, Patton: A Biography, and Thomas Jefferson: A Critical Life. He has also been a creative consultant to several television documentaries and series, including The Wild West, for the WB Network, and Civil War Journal, for The Discovery Channel. He lives in Atlanta, Georgia.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Running Press; 1St Edition edition (April 24, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0762427698
• ISBN-13: 978-0762427697
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,540,621 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Ground rules training for a future leader, October 21, 2007

By 

lordhoot "lordhoot" (Anchorage, Alaska USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Blooding at Great Meadows: Young George Washington and the Battle that Shaped the Man (Hardcover)

I found this book to be quite interesting and insightful on how George Washington entered into the military career and the harsh lessons he had to endured in learning his craft. The book traces Washington's interest in the military aspects from his boyhood days when he was heavily influenced by his half brother, Lawrence Washington and his slight military career. The author made it clear that George Washington not only wanted a military career but push hard to get one.

The core of the book lies from the time when Washington was sent as a emissary from Royal Governor Dinwiddie of Virginia to the French in the Ohio territory and ends with Braddock's defeat. During those two events, was the proving grounds for George Washington as he learned from his mistakes and from the mistakes of others while learning valuable lessons on the art of war in his native land where regular European way of war and frontier style of warfare both interlaced with each other. The book centered a lot around his Fort Necessity campaign that reflects heavily on his inexperience as a military commander. The book didn't go too deeply into the surrender terms where Washington ended up confessing that he "assassinated" the French emissary during his first battle. That probably deserves a book on its own since it does smear dishonor on Washington's good name just by his consent even with ignorance. (Of course, the question is, even if he did knew, would he had sign it because if he did not, that battle could have been a massacre of his troops against overwhelming French and Indian forces.)

I think the book did a good job overall reflecting on the early experiences Washington had as a young man and how that experience helped shape him as a commander of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. The book proves to be well written and nicely researched.

If there was one element of the book that I thought was lacking, was that there was no maps, no illustrations, not even a photograph of what Fort Necessity looks like from the modern reconstruction at the National Battlefield site mentioned in the book. Now I been to that site and I know the locations of the places mentioned in the book. But I also know that many others do not. (At least my hardback book didn't have these stuff.)

Still, the book deserves a four star rating since I thought it was insightful and accomplished basically what the author wanted to convey to his reader.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An amazing scrutiny of life-shaping events in a legendary national leader, July 7, 2007

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Blooding at Great Meadows: Young George Washington and the Battle that Shaped the Man (Audio CD)

Written by historian and creative consultant to television documentaries David Drummond, Blooding at Great Meadows is the unabridged audiobook version of the true story of George Washington long before he was the leader of the American Revolution and father of our country. Blooding at Great Meadows examines George Washington as a twenty-two year-old lieutenant colonel, who led four hundred American militiamen against a larger, more experienced French army and paid a steep price for the effort. Washington lost a third of his men, and the Battle of Great Meadows ignited the French and Indian War. In the crucible, Washington forged his intellect, his tactical skill, and his spirituality, all of which would be put to test in the future. Read by David Drummond, Blooding at Great Meadows is an amazing scrutiny of life-shaping events in a legendary national leader, highly recommended. 7 CDs, 9 hours.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Missed Its Intended Purpose, September 3, 2007

By 

Lawrence (Minot, ND, United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Blooding at Great Meadows: Young George Washington and the Battle that Shaped the Man (Hardcover)

The author does an adequate job of detailing the battles at Great Meadows (Ft Necessity and the Wilderness), with the aid of a lot of previously published material. But Axelrod missed on examining how these events shaped the later Washington. I was hoping for a deeper analysis of the "Father of Our Country Washington" and how the Great Meadows battles directly shaped him. Instead the book bogs down at Fort Necessity and ends with a bland conclusion, weakly speculating on how the events of 1754 will help shape Washington's character in the future. While there are many obvious similarities between Washington's first two battles and his later Revolutionary War experience, these could have been covered in a magazine article. There is little in this book that points to how "the Battle Shaped the Man." If you are looking for an in-depth analysis of Washington - keep looking.