What I'm Reading: Washington, a Life by Ron Chernow

"To us he has been the sympathising friend and tender father." - Richard Allen, eulogy of G. Washington

The soundtrack to the play Hamilton was finally released and I cannot stop listening to it. On top of that, I visited the National Archives Museum last week and was completely overcome with history and providence and admiration as I looked at the ORIGINAL copies of the constitution, declaration of independence, and bill of rights.

It's safe to say I'm on an American history kick right now. Therefore, it only made sense that my working commute the past few weeks has been filled with the dulcet tones of Scott Brick narrating the biography Washington, a Life by Ron Chernow.

This book has been such a revelation to me. Having all my life seen George Washington as an awe-inspiring and mysterious figure, I always felt that there was much more to him that I just never knew.

I had anticipated that seeing Washington as a real person, a human being with flaws and ambitions with take him down a peg for me. Not true. I've only come to admire him more and more. His surprisingly humble beginnings (considering the estate he'd one day inherit) and his cunning in constantly improving his station made him appear so much more human.

His care for his family and the fact that the American people were, in a way, his family was a truly shocking detail. I guess I'd never thought that if Adams had one that first election, he would have held onto power as long as he could and, likely, would have passed it on to his son John Quincy. Suddenly, the new nation, the ultimate experiment, would have a legacy of hereditary leadership and we would not be today who we are. He wasn't a great orator, inventor, puppet master, or writer, but he is so much of the reason that our country is what it is today, hundreds of years later.

Recommend!

#book #nonfiction #history