Inventing George Washington
George Washington, hailed by a modern biographer as “indispensible,” was once a man, but he has become a kind of inkblot, a projection of the times in which we live, a projection of the causes dear to our hearts. This book, written by the editor-in-chief of The Washington Papers project, has grown from a lifetime of study. When Washington died in 1799, Americans felt as if they’d lost a father. His death deprived the country of the grand old man a mere decade after the Founding of the Republic, at a time when both political divisions and external threats were running high. After all, he’d been our first president, our greatest general, and a public person for much of his life. By the turn of the 19th century, an image had already begun to separate from the real, human Washington, and death accelerated the process.
With a razor wit and a wealth of source at his fingertips, Mr. Lengel dissects the growth and proliferation of every Washington story you ever heard, from the treacle dispensed by “Parson” Weems to the accusations of revisionists and the outright fabrications of politicians. Creating a multiplicity of Washingtons, as Americans attempt to find the person behind the symbol, continues to be a profitable and politically useful enterprise. Entertaining and highly recommended.
