George Mason : Reluctant Statesman (Paperback)

~ Robert A. Rutland (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 123 pages
• Publisher: Louisiana State University Press; Revised edition (September 1980)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807106968
• ISBN-13: 978-0807106969
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 4.9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 0.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #298,036 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Someone we all need to know better, January 21, 2002

By	Andrew S. Rogers (Seattle, Washington) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: George Mason: Reluctant Statesman (Hardcover)

In an era when Americans seem to be quickly losing touch with their own history, one of the greatest crimes of all is that the name of George Mason has faded into almost complete obscurity (if there weren't a university named after him in Virginia, how much worse would it be?).

In his foreword to this brief book, Dumas Malone, the biographer of Jefferson, notes what a shame this is: 'More than any other single American, except possibly Thomas Jefferson, whom in some sense he anticipated, George Mason may be regarded as the herald of this new era [of declarations of rights]; and in our own age, when the rights of individual human beings are being challenged by totalitarianism around the world, men can still find inspiration in his noble words.'

Biographies of Mason, the author of the Virginia Declaration of Rights (which inspired, among other things, the US Declaration of Independence and the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen) are woefully few. Rutland's short book is a fine and easily digestible introduction to the man, his times, and his impact upon history. The value of that is hard to overstate.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Accessible Introduction to Lesser Known Revolutionary, December 31, 2000

By	Glenn M. Harden (Jarabacoa, Dominican Republic) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is an accessible introduction to George Mason, a Revolutionary Virginian of lesser fame. The book is very short and the print rather large, making this an easy read. Robert Rutland dwells mostly on Mason's public life, only hinting at his private life. Like Jefferson, Mason was a slaveholder who abhorred slavery (he wished the Constitutional Convention had abolished it), but Rutland leaves this paradox unexplored. For those of a scholarly bent, the book lacks footnotes. Mason was the moving force behind Virginia's Declaration of Rights, and, for that reason alone, is quite significant. Any person wishing to learn more about him will find this book a good place to start.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Better Than Nothing, May 31, 2005

By	The Stranger "Meursault" (Arlington, VA) - See all my reviews

This book is better than nothing. Unfortunately that's its competition on this subject matter. Perhaps due to his privacy, or maybe his limited time as a public official, very little is written about George Mason. That's a shame really, as he put the liberty movement in the colonies to words.

'Reluctant Statesman' is a mere 110 pages (with large print and illustrations no less!). The saddest part of all, is that this is probably overkill for the limited amount of information contained within those pages. Reading this book won't give you much more than a quick glance at an encyclopedia entry would.

I'd recommend this book to anyone looking for a brief introduction to Mason. Just be forewarned, this is only a brief introduction and nothing more.