Customer Reviews

George Washington's Mount Vernon: At Home in Revolutionary America

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Mount Vernon was both architecturally innovative and a true mirror of Washington's feelings and mind. He never wrote an autobiography and his diaries consist largely of farm accounts, but in Mount Vernon, the authors write, "he produced a text from which it is possible to coax a remarkably full sense of his political convictions and of how, over time, they changed." The book, George Washington's Mount Vernon, combines the public and the private sides of his life and uses the combination to enrich our understanding of both.

For an Architect practicing in any era since Monticello was built, it has always been easy to enter into Jefferson's process--to commune with the models and the methods he sat down with as he designed (time and again) the house that he built as a monument to his ideas and his place in history. In part, this has been because he planned and drew much as we do today. We have the drawings. We know (and can quickly avert our eyes from) the form of labor. We can hold these two-dimensional maps up to the brilliant artifact, and be satisfied, with ourselves, that we have made a connection to the past. Mount Vernon, however, has had to wait for the Dalzells to read, for us, the full and fully three-dimensional process of its becoming. This beautifully written book brings to George Washington's home, a context of meaning and National symbolism that time and distance had almost obliterated. The book is a restoration project: and as such, it is a key compliment to the preservation work so ably executed over the years by the Mount Vernon Ladies Association. I heartily recommend this book to architects (amateur and professional), their clients (who may find comfort in learning that building has always been a trial), architectural historians, or anyone at all who is curious about the faithfulness of our democracy to the designs of one of its primary draftsmen.

Knowing Professor Dalzell and Mrs. Dalzell personally, I was incredibly curious to see how they blended the two seemingly connected but perhaps contrasting topics of George Washington and his home. Essentially, they were connected very successfully. The entire history of the home itself is told vividly with photographs, anecdotes, and objective descriptions of its development. Following, Washington's own personal, military, and political history is told in light of the times, and in the book's shining ability, in relation to the home itself. The Dalzell's cleverly-melded arguments and discussions leads the reader to a full knowledge of Mt. Vernon and its inspiring owner.

I openned this book expecting to read a story about a house and how it was built. I was surprised, and impressed, to discover that what went on as Mt. Vernon took form was far more interesting than I had expected. This is not so much a book about a house as it is the story of how George Washington related to the slaves on whom he relied to execute his architecture. In other words, the story here reverberates far beyond the boundaries of the plantation. It went to the heart of the republic, and it goes to the heart of this nation. Slavery is encoded in our national DNA (sorry, Jefferson). The Dalzells make it clear that it is also mortared in the wood and plaster (cut and painted to look like stone) of our national edifice. Are you tormented, or at least intrigued, that a slaveowner could style himself father of a republic dedicated to freedom? Maybe Washington was, too. Find out. Visit Mt. Vernon, and do it by reading this book.

This is really an architectural biography, that is a story of the life of Washington through his public and private spaces. Mount Vernon, the estate and house, has long been seen as an archetype of colonial America, yet this work exists to show just how unusual Washington was and how unusual his estate was.

Drawing on extensive use of primary sources, the authors have made the case that Washington's working estate was intended to be a public location for showing how a private life could be lived well, with late 18th century virtue at its heart.

The authors do not ignore the role that slave labor played at Mt. Vernon, nor Washington's changing attitudes. Mostly what they accomplish with this work is to show and flesh out in greater detail how this estate, and its evolving history, to 1799, was used to create and demonstrate what the new American Republic could be.

Washington might be surprised at the attention to detail that the preservation of Mt. Vernon has today. He would not be surprised that it is a public space, welcoming to people from across the land. He might be surprised at its attention today, froze in amber in 1799, as it remained a working estate, constantly changing, to be used and grown for economic output in his day.

This is a readable, well researched history that fleshes out Washington and the important role that Mt. Vernon played in his life.

The Dazell's book is an excellent account of Mt. Vernon's development over Washington's adult life. Even during the war, he kept up correspondence with overseers on construction and related matters. The softbound copy I recieved was from the Oxford Press and appeared to be a copy of a copy. This resulted in photos, diagrams and other illustrations having a 'washed out' appearance and difficult to read - espcecially when reviewing the diagrams. Accordingly I sent that copy back and am now looking for a hardbound copy which details illustrations better.

This book is a great introduction into American architecture. All architecture represents a sign-of-the times in which it was produced. This book makes reading about architecture a pleasure as it winds it's was through the story of George Washington's personal and political life. The authors give a good balance between describing early American architecture and the ideals behind the changes in Mount Vernon. I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in either early American history or architecture.

I have to give the author's credit for looking at President George Washington life in a different way than the thousands of books written before. This book does a great job in describing how Washington's home is a complete reflextion of his own life. I guess you can say the same for Thomas Jefferson and his Monticello home but since Washington was unlike Jefferson in so many ways, his home reveals much more personality than has been revealed in historical evidence. Great pictures and beautiful photography this book does a fine job of incorporating Mount Vernon and also some interesting American history. If you are a history buff you will appreciate the different approach to getting to know a historical figure.

Excellent book in explaining who were his neighbors, how his property was taken care of, etc. Since my Husbands ancestors were some of his neighbors it is a really interesting read. I love history anyway. I really like finding out how our early leaders were really just like us. It makes history come alive

Shirt-tail relatives on my mother's side were neighbors of the great man (and are mentioned in this book).

I'm aware that this is probably a college textbook, but, in my view, there is no reason to overprice the ebook edition. However, the price has dropped considerably, so I bought it for genealogy research.

Bucky