Customer Reviews

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

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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.