Washington: A Life (Pulitzer Prize Winner)

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Penguin, Oct 5, 2010 - Biography & Autobiography - 928 pages

From the author of Alexander Hamilton, the New York Times bestselling biography that inspired the musical, comes a gripping portrait of the first president of the United States.

Winner of the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Biography


“Truly magnificent . . . [a] well-researched, well-written and absolutely definitive biography” —Andrew Roberts, The Wall Street Journal

“Until recently, I’d never believed that there could be such a thing as a truly gripping biography of George Washington . . . Well, I was wrong. I can’t recommend it highly enough—as history, as epic, and, not least, as entertainment.” —Hendrik Hertzberg, The New Yorker

Celebrated biographer Ron Chernow provides a richly nuanced portrait of the father of our nation and the first president of the United States. With a breadth and depth matched by no other one volume biography of George Washington, this crisply paced narrative carries the reader through his adventurous early years, his heroic exploits with the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, his presiding over the Constitutional Convention, and his magnificent performance as America's first president. In this groundbreaking work, based on massive research, Chernow shatters forever the stereotype of George Washington as a stolid, unemotional figure and brings to vivid life a dashing, passionate man of fiery opinions and many moods.

Lin-Manuel Miranda’s smash Broadway musical Hamilton has sparked new interest in the Revolutionary War and the Founding Fathers. In addition to Alexander Hamilton, the production also features George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Aaron Burr, Lafayette, and many more.

 

Contents

A Shortlived Family
3
Fortunes Favorite
15
Wilderness Mission
29
Bloodbath
39
Shades of Death
52
The Soul of an Army
63
29
70
A Votary to Love
76
Cincinnatus
448
American Celebrity
461
Gentleman Farmer
476
Devils Bargain
485
The Ruins of the Past
497
A Masterly Hand
508
A House on Fire
520
Rising Sun
533

Darling of a Grateful Country
87
The Planter
95
A Certain Species of Property
109
The Prodigy
121
Providence
127
The Asiatic Prince
152
A Shock of Electricity
165
The Glorious Cause
181
Magnificent Bluff
194
Land of Freedom
206
The Heights
222
All London Afloat
234
Disaster
244
An Indecisive Mind
257
The Crossing
269
The Busy Scenes of a Camp
285
Darkness Visible
300
Rapping a Demigod over the Knuckles
312
A Dreary Kind of Place
323
The Long Retreat
337
Pests of Society
347
The Storm Thickens
358
The Traitor
371
Mutiny
388
Plundering Scoundrels
398
The World Turned Upside Down
406
Man of Moderation
424
Closing the Drama with Applause
437
Mounting the Seat
542
The Place of Execution
559
Acting the Presidency
574
The Cares of Office
586
Rays of Genius
595
The Traveling Presidency
608
The State of the President
618
Capital Matters
629
Southern Exposure
642
Running into Extremes
656
A Tissue of Machinations
669
Citizen Genet
684
Bring Out Your Dead
700
Hercules in the Field
711
Crowns and Coronets
723
Mad Dog
729
The Colossus of the People
740
The Master of Farewells
752
Exiting the Stage
764
The Legend
773
A Mind on the Stretch
792
Freedom
799
Homecoming
805
Acknowledgments
819
Bibliography
859
Index
873
Copyright

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About the author (2010)

Ron Chernow is the prize-winning author of six books and the recipient of the 2015 National Humanities Medal. His first book, The House of Morgan, won the National Book Award, Washington: A Life won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Biography, and Alexander Hamilton was the inspiration for the Broadway musical. His new biography, Grant, will be published in October 2017. Chernow lives in Brooklyn, New York.

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