Washington: A Life

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and a New York Times Bestseller, a landmark biography of George Washington.

In Washington: A Life celebrated biographer Ron Chernow provides a richly nuanced portrait of the father of our nation. With a breadth and depth matched by no other one-volume life of Washington, this crisply paced narrative carries the reader through his troubled boyhood, his precocious feats in the French and Indian War, his creation of Mount Vernon, his heroic exploits with the Continental Army, his presiding over the Constitutional Convention, and his magnificent performance as America's first president.

Despite the reverence his name inspires, Washington remains a lifeless waxwork for many Americans, worthy but dull. A laconic man of granite self-control, he often arouses more respect than affection. In this groundbreaking work, based on massive research, Chernow dashes forever the stereotype of a stolid, unemotional man. A strapping six feet, Washington was a celebrated horseman, elegant dancer, and tireless hunter, with a fiercely guarded emotional life. Chernow brings to vivid life a dashing, passionate man of fiery opinions and many moods. Probing his private life, he explores his fraught relationship with his crusty mother, his youthful infatuation with the married Sally Fairfax, and his often conflicted feelings toward his adopted children and grandchildren. He also provides a lavishly detailed portrait of his marriage to Martha and his complex behavior as a slave master.

At the same time, Washington is an astute and surprising portrait of a canny political genius who knew how to inspire people. Not only did Washington gather around himself the foremost figures of the age, including James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson, but he also brilliantly orchestrated their actions to shape the new federal government, define the separation of powers, and establish the office of the presidency.

In this unique biography, Ron Chernow takes us on a page-turning journey through all the formative events of America's founding. With a dramatic sweep worthy of its giant subject, Washington is a magisterial work from one of our most elegant storytellers.

Ron Chernow's new biography, Grant, will be published by Penguin Press in October 2017.

Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Penguin Press
Published: 10/05/2010
ISBN: 9781594202667
Pages: 928
Weight: 2.94lbs
Size: 9.44h x 6.37w x 1.85d
Award: ALA Notable Books - Winner
Award: Christopher Awards - Winner
Award: Pulitzer Prize - Winner
Award: L.A. Times Book Prize - Finalist

Review Citations: Entertainment Weekly 05/06/2011 pg. 25
Library Journal Prepub Alert 05/15/2010 pg. 61
Library Journal 08/01/2010 pg. 90
Booklist 09/01/2010 pg. 32
New Yorker (The) 09/27/2010 pg. 80
New York Times Book Review 10/03/2010 pg. 21
Entertainment Weekly 10/08/2010 pg. 79
New York Times Book Review 10/10/2010 pg. 26
Publishers Weekly 10/11/2010
New York Review of Books 12/09/2010 pg. 38
NY Times Notable Bks of Year 12/05/2010 pg. 30
Booklist Editors Choice/Adult 01/01/2011 pg. 6
Choice 07/01/2011
Publishers Weekly Best Books 11/08/2010 pg. 28
BookPage 10/01/2010