Summary of Washington: by Ron Chernow | Includes Analysis

By Instaread Summaries

Summary of Washington: by Ron Chernow | Includes Analysis

 

Preview:

Ron Chernow’s 2010 biography Washington: A Life is a Pulitzer Prize-winning account of George Washington’s life from birth to death. It is based on newly available archival material from the most recent editio

• Language: English
• Publisher: Instaread, Inc
• Release date: Mar 1, 2019
• ISBN: 9781683788263

Book preview

Summary

Ron Chernow’s 2010 biography Washington: A Life is a Pulitzer Prize-winning account of George Washington’s life from birth to death. It is based on newly available archival material from the most recent edition of Washington’s papers, which allows Chernow to focus on Washington as a public and especially as a private figure. For example, the biography dwells on Washington’s relationship with his difficult mother, Mary.

Washington was known for his tight self-control and his refusal to show emotions. Beneath his calm exterior, however, he was a man of strong passions. When he exploded at his subordinates, his fury was great. He also was a man of powerful ambitions who valued and defended his reputation for honor and probity.

Washington was born to a landowning Virginia family, but not into wealth, circumstances that distinguished him from wealthier and well-to-do founders such as John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. Mary Ball Washington raised George and his four younger siblings by herself following the early death of her husband, Augustine. She was successful in managing the estate of Mount Vernon, but she was severe and critical of her children. Washington’s intense self-control and his occasional volcanic temper may have been