A01=Peter R. Henriques
Alexander Hamilton
Author_Peter R. Henriques
Battle of Princeton
Battle of Trenton
Category=DNBH
Category=JPHL
Category=NHK
commander in chief
Constitutional Convention
early United States history
eq_bestseller
eq_biography-true-stories
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
executive branch
founding father
French and Indian War
Jay Treaty
John Adams
Martha Washington
Mary Ball Washington
military leader
Sally Fairfax
Thomas Jefferson
Product details
- ISBN 9780813954189
- Dimensions: 140 x 216mm
- Publication Date: 23 Sep 2025
- Publisher: University of Virginia Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
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A concise, compelling biography of Washington and the forces that drove him
What drove George Washington to become the preeminent man of his time and to secure a lasting reputation as one of history's great leaders? In this concise and engaging profile, Peter Henriques - a renowned Washington expert - recounts how Washington possessed a desperate desire to be seen, admired, honored, and above all to be remembered. Over the course of his life, Washington deliberately and self-consciously shaped his public image. Even his decision, dictated in his last will and testament, to emancipate the men and women he had held in slavery during his lifetime related directly to his desire to be perceived as honorable after his death and to safeguard his posthumous reputation. The complicated and controversial question of Washington and slavery is examined in an afterword to the biography. Written with a clarity that comes only from deep understanding, this biography goes right to the heart of what made Washington live, and succeed as the greatest of America's Founding Fathers.
What drove George Washington to become the preeminent man of his time and to secure a lasting reputation as one of history's great leaders? In this concise and engaging profile, Peter Henriques - a renowned Washington expert - recounts how Washington possessed a desperate desire to be seen, admired, honored, and above all to be remembered. Over the course of his life, Washington deliberately and self-consciously shaped his public image. Even his decision, dictated in his last will and testament, to emancipate the men and women he had held in slavery during his lifetime related directly to his desire to be perceived as honorable after his death and to safeguard his posthumous reputation. The complicated and controversial question of Washington and slavery is examined in an afterword to the biography. Written with a clarity that comes only from deep understanding, this biography goes right to the heart of what made Washington live, and succeed as the greatest of America's Founding Fathers.
Peter R. Henriques is Professor of History Emeritus at George Mason University and the author of First and Always: A New Portrait of George Washington and Realistic Visionary: A Portrait of George Washington.
