George Washington
The Founding Father

This is a nice little book to get at the meat of Washington's life by an excellent historian. George Washington's church attendance was 50% or less. He was impatient with long sermons and never read religious works. In twenty volumes of correspondence, there is not a single mention of Christ. In no......more

This is the 3rd book in the Eminent Lives series I’ve read and the first one that seems to suffer from its short format. Much of that is due to the author though. He made the case for certain things without supporting them with Washington’s own words, as in the interpretation of how the 1st amendmen......more

Over the years, I have read several volumes of Paul Johnson, and I have enjoyed his easy and readable style. He does not disappoint in his small volume on George Washington. The father of our country is revealed as a man of wisdom, great character and leadership. Johnson depicts Washington in a vari......more

A generally eminent view of an eminent life! Overall I found this a very interesting book. I read it mainly to update my own book, “George Washington’s Liberty Key.” The things I enjoyed in Johnson’s work included: 1. his intriguing (and generally ameliorating for Washington) perspectives on slavery......more

This book might seem like an odd choice, but I'm writing a paper on YouTube treatments of masculinity, paternity, and the Founding Fathers, so I had to get a good sense of the original biographical lore being parodied (And hey, tomorrow is President's Day, so the timing seemed especially good :) The......more