George Washington

December 14, 2020
Historian and mystery writer Stewart (Madison’s Gift) delivers an insightful take on George Washington’s evolution as a politician. Painstaking accounts of episodes from Washington’s life before the American Revolution illustrate the flaws he struggled to overcome: “a meager education, a temper that terrified those who saw him lose it, a cockiness that could make him reckless, and a deep financial insecurity that could lead him close to greed.” Stewart delves into Washington’s mixed record as a military commander during the French and Indian War; his “shrewd calculation” in deciding to first run for the Virginia House of Burgesses in Frederick County, where he had deep connections to the region’s largest landowner; and his public presentation of the Fairfax Resolves, which pledged to resist the Coercive Acts by all means necessary and helped make Washington a celebrated figure at the First Continental Congress in 1774. Stewart’s balanced portrait of Washington also includes uncomfortable details about his treatment of his slaves, whom he verbally abused and actively prevented from filing legal claims that might have led to their emancipation. Even readers well-versed in Washington’s life will learn something new from this meticulous look at how he became the “paramount political figure” of his era.

December 15, 2020
A study of Washington's political education, ambition, and leadership. Stewart begins with the French and Indian War, during which Washington achieved his first military glory. As a colonel in the Virginia militia, he led several expeditions into the wilderness and became nationally known for bravery during Gen. Edward Braddock's disastrous 1755 defeat. During the following years, Washington displayed much energy but little talent, and he resigned his commission in 1758 to marry "a pleasingly rich widow about his age" and live as a wealthy Virginia planter, which included serving in the state House of Burgesses. Traditionally, historians describe these civilian years (1759-1775) as the period when he developed political skills and self-mastery. "The George Washington who arrived at the First Continental Congress in 1774," writes the author, "is almost unrecognizable compared to the man who led the Virginia regiment two decades before." Stewart has no more success than his predecessors in explaining what happened, but this is the least known period of his life, and readers will enjoy the author's insightful nuts-and-bolts account of his handling of the politics and infighting of local government. In the second half of the book, Stewart chronicles several "political minefields" that Washington navigated as a national figure. He kept his army intact through the miserable winter at Valley Forge while fending off a plot by more successful generals to supersede him. As president, he created a federal government from almost nothing, restored the nation's credit, and kept it neutral in the war that followed the French Revolution, which bitterly divided the nation and subjected him to a torrent of abuse. In the author's chapter on slavery, Washington emerges mostly unscathed--though it's a low bar. Every slave-owning Founding Father deplored the institution and took no action, but only Washington freed his slaves in his will. All serious biographies emphasize Washington's political genius, and Stewart, an experienced biographer as well as a good writer, accomplishes his goal. Another straightforward life of Washington, but a fine one.

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Starred review from February 1, 2021

Stewart (Impeached: The Trial of President Andrew Johnson) makes the case that though George Washington (1732-99) went out of his way to hide it, he was a masterful politician who used his talents to advance the priorities he thought necessary for the fledgling United States. While his record of success in the French and Indian War was uneven, he nevertheless managed to learn how to organize an army. Afterwards he rose swiftly to prominence in the Virginia House of Burgesses. During the Revolutionary War, as Stewart ably recounts, Washington held his army together through Valley Forge and later thwarted machinations to remove him from his post. Stewart argues that Washington was the only player at the Constitutional Convention who received both a strong executive branch and a permanent namesake capitol. As president, Washington supported Alexander Hamilton in establishing the national bank and assuming payment of the state's war debts by the federal government. In this second term, he managed to keep the country out of potentially disastrous foreign involvement. Stewart concludes by discussing the politician's late wrestling with the issue of slavery. VERDICT In this lively and admirable study, Stewart offers a balanced and thoughtfully well-written appreciation of George Washington's life and leadership. A must for fans of biographies.--David Keymer, Cleveland

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Starred review from February 1, 2021
In the aftermath of George Washington's 1799 death, biographers leaned to the hagiographic, concocting tales that failed objective scrutiny. American historian Stewart (Madison's Gift, 2015) addresses the political aptitude of the Father of the Nation. Washington had a difficult, but scarcely deprived, childhood, loving if imperfect parents, and an elder brother who genuinely cared about him. Washington's early military exploits against French encroachments on the western edges of the British colonies instilled in him leadership values of open-mindedness, conciliation, strength of character, and physical prowess. Rising to respected landowner, Washington became a skilled politician during the nation's birth. He slowly progressed at Virginia's House of Burgesses through the Continental Congresses and the Constitutional Convention, developing a habit of listening more than talking. He was aided by his military successes where he cared less about winning a battle than achieving strategic objectives. Becoming the nation's first leader, he established precedents that well served a democratic nation despite the ever-present contradictions of slavery. Stewart closes with an analysis of Washington's ambivalent distaste for slavery and his posthumous freeing of his own enslaved workers. This is a readable and revealing contemporary look at an oft-studied personality. Includes illustrations and bibliography.

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