American Patriarch: The Life of George Washington

Historian Brands (America First) examines George Washington’s life with an eye to uncovering what gave him his unique character in this immersive biography. Brands tracks how the resourcefulness, bravery, decisiveness, and diligence of a talented young officer who “[found] war invigorating and seductive” morphed into the signature mix of authority and modesty of the general who famously accepted command of the Continental army while proclaiming his unworthiness, and who possessed an almost preternatural ability to inspire while exhibiting an extreme devotion to duty. These traits led Washington to relinquish power not once but twice—first giving up his command of the army at the end of the war, and then again giving up the presidency after two terms—inspiring the fledgling nation with confidence in the soundness of its republican ideals. In Brands’s assessment, Washington was painfully self-aware that his every move set a precedent—he wasn’t a creature of pure instinct—but, on the other hand, the gentlemanly disinterest at the bedrock of his persona was partly a product of his aristocratic upbringing. A passage depicting Washington’s idle handling of the fates of his slaves showcases the unsettling side of such a disinterested persona, though Brands doesn’t peer too far into those depths. This detailed character study reveals a Washington who manifested his own myth. (May)