Washington: A Life in Crazy Challenge Connection

Dec 06, 2012 Chaitra rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

It was a fluke I came to this book. I'm an ignoramus when it comes to American History, but even I know that Jefferson is a polarizing figure in early American politics. Yeah, Jefferson. But I'm also a stickler for order, and I couldn't read a biography of the third American president without reading the first and the second. So, Washington. It's a huge book, let's get that out of the way. But it proved far more readable than several of the tiny fiction books that I also read alongside this mamm It was a fluke I came to this book. I'm an ignoramus when it comes to American History, but even I know that Jefferson is a polarizing figure in early American politics. Yeah, Jefferson. But I'm also a stickler for order, and I couldn't read a biography of the third American president without reading the first and the second. So, Washington. It's a huge book, let's get that out of the way. But it proved far more readable than several of the tiny fiction books that I also read alongside this mammoth. Oh, he had a magnificent life, Washington, and it's chronicled without bias (at least, I did not notice any) in this Pulitzer Award winning book. It's divided into six parts, representing the six major roles he played in his life: The Frontiersman, the Planter, the General, the Statesman, the President, and the Legend. And why it wins is because it neither idolizes him nor demonizes, it paints an all too human portrait of the man behind the legend.

Perhaps it's fitting that the book's strongest parts are when it deals with Washington's ambivalence towards slavery. The man was, first and foremost, a planter in Virginia, and he naturally had slaves. He was by turns strict and mean, by turns abhorrent of the tradition of slavery, and it is heartbreaking to know in hindsight that he did not do much more to help the slaves on his plantation. But, I'm not sure that the United States could have taken that blow at the time of its inception, considering it was almost destroyed 80 years later in the Civil War. But that is beside the point, I stand in awe of what Washington did accomplish. For him to go from an Anglophile to the head of the army fighting them to a diplomat who recognized that his fledgling country could not afford to have Britain for an enemy is a huge achievement.

I knew before reading the book that Washington was Commander in Chief of the Rebel Army, but I had only the barest idea of the odds he faced against the British. To hold together a piece meal militia! of all things, for eight long years, he had to be a special man (or according to this article, a wizard). As I was reading, I was again and again struck by how providential it all was and how close the United States was to being a non-entity. How lucky America was that Washington decided to be a rebel and not a loyalist. Not just during the war either, US was close to coming to an anarchic end even during the first terms of presidency. I doubt very much there was anyone else who could have held it better than Washington did, not Adams, not Madison, not Jefferson. One aspect that made me quite sad was that there were a couple of 18th century versions of Fox News (the Ben Franklin Bache run Aurora and Philip Freneau's Gazette and their Federalist counterpart), although I understand that they do have some dubious function to perform in a democracy.

As much as I enjoyed the military strategy and the Presidency of Washington, I also enjoyed insights into his personal life. Washington, in his private life, was a generous man as evidenced by his providing for an innumerable number of step sons and daughters, nieces, nephews, grandchildren and other miscellaneous characters. His generosity extended to his slaves too, he made a will freeing slaves once his wife was dead, but only after they were taught how to read and write and a trade that they could ply once they were free. He did not take a stand against slavery on a national stage, but that he even contemplated doing so in his personal life, being a Virginian and a plantation man, is commendable for that time. As I finished reading this book, I come away with the feeling that, for all his flaws, the United States could not have found a better father of the nation. A great book, do not let the size put you off! Highly recommended.

Next! John Adams! ...more

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