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Washington

A Life

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Washington

By: Ron Chernow
Narrated by: Scott Brick
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Buy for $36.00

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Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and a New York Times Bestseller, a landmark biography of George Washington.

In Washington: A Life celebrated biographer Ron Chernow provides a richly nuanced portrait of the father of our nation. With a breadth and depth matched by no other one-volume life of Washington, this crisply paced narrative carries the reader through his troubled boyhood, his precocious feats in the French and Indian War, his creation of Mount Vernon, his heroic exploits with the Continental Army, his presiding over the Constitutional Convention, and his magnificent performance as America's first president.

Despite the reverence his name inspires, Washington remains a lifeless waxwork for many Americans, worthy but dull. A laconic man of granite self-control, he often arouses more respect than affection. In this groundbreaking work, based on massive research, Chernow dashes forever the stereotype of a stolid, unemotional man. A strapping six feet, Washington was a celebrated horseman, elegant dancer, and tireless hunter, with a fiercely guarded emotional life. Chernow brings to vivid life a dashing, passionate man of fiery opinions and many moods. Probing his private life, he explores his fraught relationship with his crusty mother, his youthful infatuation with the married Sally Fairfax, and his often conflicted feelings toward his adopted children and grandchildren. He also provides a lavishly detailed portrait of his marriage to Martha and his complex behavior as a slave master.

At the same time, Washington is an astute and surprising portrait of a canny political genius who knew how to inspire people. Not only did Washington gather around himself the foremost figures of the age, including James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson, but he also brilliantly orchestrated their actions to shape the new federal government, define the separation of powers, and establish the office of the presidency.

In this unique biography, Ron Chernow takes us on a page-turning journey through all the formative events of America's founding. With a dramatic sweep worthy of its giant subject, Washington is a magisterial work from one of our most elegant storytellers.

Ron Chernow's new biography, Grant, will be published by Penguin Press in October 2017.

Accolades & Awards

Pulitzer Prize
2011
Presidents & Heads of State Pulitzer Prize Politics & Activism Biographies & Memoirs United States Historical Biography Politicians War Revolution & Founding Americas Boston War of 1812 Witty Suspenseful Funny

Critic reviews

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

“Superb… the best, most comprehensive, and most balanced single-volume biography of Washington ever written. [Chernow’s] understanding of human nature is extraordinary and that is what makes his biography so powerful.” –Gordon S. Wood, The New York Review of Books

“Chernow displays a breadth of knowledge about Washington that is nothing short of phenomenal… never before has Washington been rendered so tangibly in such a smart, tenaciously researched volume as Chernow's opus… a riveting read...” –Douglas Brinkley, The Los Angeles Times

“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. Ron Chernow’s huge (900 pages) Washington: A Life, which I’ve just finished, does all that and more. I can’t recommend it highly enough—as history, as epic, and, not least, as entertainment. It’s as luxuriantly pleasurable as one of those great big sprawling, sweeping Victorian novels.” –Hendrik Hertzberg, The New Yorker

“[Ron Chernow] has done justice to the solid flesh, the human frailty and the dental miseries of his subject—and also to his immense historical importance… This is a magnificently fair, full-scale biography.” –The Economist
Comprehensive Biography • Humanized Portrayal • Excellent Narration • Rich Historical Detail • Pleasant Voice

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I've been listening to audio books for almost 4 years now I always have the headphones on my head and drives my wife crazy. So I am a hard-core listener and I enjoy nonfiction books. This has to be one of the best I've listened I've listened to two other books about George Washington but this one's the top. The narrator also did a good job. For me George Washington truly is the father of United States. I think Mr. Obama should listen to this audio so he can understand what a real president is. This book also is on the New York Times bestsellers and well worth it. My compliments to the author he did an excellent job writing this book. So don't hesitate absolutely download this book.

Washington A Life

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Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism.
- George Washington

My first exposure to Chernow was his now über-famous biography. My daughter owns her own copy of Chernow's Alexander Hamilton and just today showed me Chernow rapping "Alexander Hamilton" dressed in the show's distinctive revolutionary garb for #Ham4Ham. We were lucky enough to see Hamilton in NYC.

So, now, after President Trump's election, I'm finding spiritual solace in reading a book-a-day (at least in January) and trying to read at least one presidential biography a month (this month I read two, this one and Caro's The Path to Power, LBJ #1). I need to be reminded that, yes, politics has always been nasty AND -- yes -- this too will pass.

Anyway, while I didn't like the George Washington bio QUITE as much as I enjoyed Chernow's Hamilton bio, it might have been for reasons beyond Chernow's control. I've read a bunch of Washington biographies and there isn't much that I haven't come across, or at least knew if not in form certainly by shadow. There wasn't much here that was surprising, but as a biography it was compelling. Chernow did a masterful job of threading throughout the biography certain Washington traits and contradictions, the biggest being his views on slavery, and his treatment of slaves. The fact that Chernow didn't write a hagiography but was trying to paint a full picture of our first president was obvious. As far as biographies of Washington go, this one beats Ellis' His Excellency: George Washington by "a large and straight rather than prominent" nose.

Chernow is technically more of a journalist than a historian, but in this age of modern biographies there is certainly room for the self-taught. In many ways, journalists often produce fantastic biographies since they often have a distinct narrative talent. That doesn't mean Chernow isn't historically rigorous in his historical efforts. Many of the primary sources are ones I hadn't read before, or were ones used in a different context. So, while I don't think Chernow writes as well as Robert Caro, he still belongs on the top shelf of living presidential biographers.

So, now after this I'm going to definitely have to read:

1. Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr.
2. The House of Morgan: An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance
3. The Warburgs: The Twentieth-Century Odyssey of a Remarkable Jewish Family

I own the first two, so obviously, I'll start with those.

The First American

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I enjoyed the character of Alexander Hamilton better in a previous book by Chernow but this book on Washington was a better and more interesting read/listen.

Good book, great character

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Simply masterful. Beginning to end. You know the man, his character, his strengths and flaws, and the personal drive and fortunate accidents that led him to become the first leader of our great country.

Chernow does it again. A masterful retelling.

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This was amazing. I learned a whole lot about GW i never knew. There was a whole lot of politicing back then i had no clue.

A must read for any history buff

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