Questions About Washington: A Life

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I have not read this, but the synopsis makes it sound like propaganda. Is there anything in here about how Washington was a failed war general who lost almost every battle he was ever in? Did it say anything about how he owned slaves? To me, he is not a hero. Like Jefferson he was a hypocrite and a racist, misogynist bigot.

Clark Hedrick It sounds like you don't want to read an objective book. It actually sounds like you prefer to read propaganda that paints Washington as "a hypocrite …moreIt sounds like you don't want to read an objective book. It actually sounds like you prefer to read propaganda that paints Washington as "a hypocrite and a racist, misogynistic bigot" who "was a failed war general." I recommend you don't read this: it would be disappointingly fair and neutral.

For everyone else: I recommend reading this book. Chernow is a critical biographer of Washington. He often brings attention to the fact that Washington was not a great battlefield commander or strategist. He also accounts for the fact that Washington drew universal acclaim from contemporaries for many qualities that made him an effective leader—one who also merited the study and adulation of the countless political and military leaders who have subsequently found success by applying lessons from Washington's life. One such lesson is the ability to recognize and elevate the strengths of those around you and subrogating your pride to their genius. This is a lesson we all, particularly J it seems, would benefit to learn and embody.

On the topic of slavery, Chernow does a good job in explaining, without justifying, the difficulty Washington had when it came to slavery. He was certainly hypocritical and, as compared to 21st century Americans, a racist. He also explores the complexities of the law and culture which caused many (even those who held abolitionist views) to continue as enslavers. For example, it's easy to forget the law of dowager slaves who could not be freed unless "bought" with cash by the trustee from the estate—a seeming impossibility for many over-leveraged and cash-poor plantation owners (like Washington and Jefferson). These laws were intended to and successfully did entrench slavery in the South, even among the high-minded, liberty-loving, universal human rights-establishing Revolutionary generation. These complexities in no way exonerate these individuals—the fact that many slave-inheritors destroyed their estates and wealth in favor of liberty for slaves and for justice shows that it was not only possible, but the only correct course—however it also allows us to understand how such injustice was tolerated in the same way that we all tolerate certain, perhaps analogous, injustices today.

We would all hope to be morally superior to Washington, Jefferson, Madison, et al. if we were put in their shoes. I also recognize that, similar to them, I am flawed, selfish, and culturally subject to myriad moral blindspots. Literature, and biographies, at its best holds a mirror to ourselves. I appreciate Chernow who accomplishes that goal in this book, if you give him the chance. I fear that's not the type of thing J looks to do as s/he reads and heaven forbid that our progeny would be a critical of us as J is of history's great men; we will accomplish a mere fraction of their contribution, but compound the same crimes against human dignity and universal justice.(less)

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