The Essential George Washington: Two Hundred Years of Observations on the Man, the Myth, the Patriot [Hardcover]

Peter Hannaford (Editor)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

These three volumes are part of the nation's commemoration of the 200th anniversary of Washington's death. Hannaford's and Murray's books are slight both in size and substance. In The Essential George Washington, Hannaford has collected verbal "snapshots," brief comments on Washington made by sundry poets, politicians, journalists, and others, including Abigail Adams, James Fenimore Cooper, Newt Gingrich, and George Will. Murray's Washington's Farewell takes as its starting point a December 4, 1783, meeting of Washington and his officers, at which he bade farewell to his men and prepared to return to private life. Murray sketches the lives and characters of the officers who were at this convocation and discusses Washington's military career. Both books tend toward hagiography, and Patriot Sage is not far off. It opens with a preface by William J. Bennett, former Secretary of Education, U.S. drug czar, and chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, which states the conservative agenda of the essays collection: because the United States is in moral and political decline, it behooves us to emulate Washington in our public and private lives. The book's 12 essays touch on most facets of Washington's life--his management of Mount Vernon, his military strategies and tactics, his forging of the presidency, and his trustworthy character. One of the strongest essays is by Richard Brookhiser, author of one of the best recent biographies of Washington (Founding Father: Rediscovering George Washington, LJ 2/1/96). His prose is so buoyant it nearly leaps from the page. Unfortunately, none of these three books represents a significant advance in our knowledge or appreciation of our first president. Readers interested in Washington are advised to consult books like Brookhiser's. Patriot Sage is recommended for larger public libraries; the Murray and Hannaford books are not essential purchases.
-Thomas J. Schaeper, St. Bonaventure Univ., NY
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Images from the Past Inc (December 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1884592236
• ISBN-13: 978-1884592232
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,979,893 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

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3.0 out of 5 stars Thoughts About George Washington, December 16, 2004

By 

Robert I. Hedges - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Essential George Washington: Two Hundred Years of Observations on the Man, the Myth, the Patriot (Hardcover)

This is an interesting and worthwhile little book that is a quick read. It is essentially a collection of quotations and short essays from famous people concerning George Washington. The book is divided into three sections, with the first devoted to thoughts of his contemporaries, the third is thoughts from modern thinkers, and the middle section devoted to everyone in between.

The essays are informative, with the first section being the most important. It seems that now most people have an idea that Washington and the other founding fathers were a cohesive group of men who saw eye to eye on most important issues, but that is more a myth than reality. This book details some of the differences of opinion, particularly between Jefferson and Hamilton, and even includes quotes from people like Thomas Paine which are not particularly flattering to Washington. (In fairness, Paine held a personal vendetta against Washington in his later years which was not particularly objective or fair-minded.)

This book is not an in-depth study of Washington, but is interesting and worthwhile reading. It is easiest to obtain from the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association, the group that saved Washington's estate from ruin.