Washington: A Life - Hardcover

Chernow, Ron

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1594202664 ISBN 13: 9781594202667

Publisher: Penguin Press, 2010

Synopsis

A gripping portrait of the first president of the United States from the author of Alexander Hamilton, the New York Times bestselling biography that inspired the musical.

Celebrated biographer Ron Chernow provides a richly nuanced portrait of the father of our nation and the first president of the United States. With a breadth and depth matched by no other one volume biography of George Washington, this crisply paced narrative carries the reader through his adventurous early years, his heroic exploits with the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, his presiding over the Constitutional Convention, and his magnificent performance as America's first president. In this groundbreaking work, based on massive research, Chernow shatters forever the stereotype of George Washington as a stolid, unemotional figure and brings to vivid life a dashing, passionate man of fiery opinions and many moods.

Winner of the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Biography

"Truly magnificent... [a] well-researched, well-written and absolutely definitive biography"--Andrew Roberts, The Wall Street Journal

"Superb... the best, most comprehensive, and most balanced single-volume biography of Washington ever written."--Gordon S. Wood, The New York Review of Books

"A truly gripping biography of George Washington... I can't recommend it highly enough--as history, as epic, and, not least, as entertainment. It's as luxuriantly pleasurable as one of those great big sprawling, sweeping Victorian novels."--Hendrik Hertzberg, The New Yorker

Lin-Manuel Miranda's smash Broadway musical Hamilton has sparked new interest in the Revolutionary War and the Founding Fathers. In addition to Alexander Hamilton, the production also features George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Aaron Burr, Lafayette, and many more.

Ron Chernow's latest biography, Grant, is now available in paperback.

About this title

Review:

"Truly magnificent... [a] well-researched, well-written and absolutely definitive biography" -Andrew Roberts, The Wall Street Journal

"Superb... the best, most comprehensive, and most balanced single-volume biography of Washington ever written. [Chernow's] understanding of human nature is extraordinary and that is what makes his biography so powerful." -Gordon S. Wood, The New York Review of Books

"Chernow displays a breadth of knowledge about Washington that is nothing short of phenomenal... never before has Washington been rendered so tangibly in such a smart, tenaciously researched volume as Chernow's opus... a riveting read..." -Douglas Brinkley, The Los Angeles Times

"Until recently, I'd never believed that there could be such a thing as a truly gripping biography of George Washington...Well, I was wrong. Ron Chernow's huge (900 pages) Washington: A Life, which I've just finished, does all that and more. I can't recommend it highly enough--as history, as epic, and, not least, as entertainment. It's as luxuriantly pleasurable as one of those great big sprawling, sweeping Victorian novels." -Hendrik Hertzberg, The New Yorker

"[Ron Chernow] has done justice to the solid flesh, the human frailty and the dental miseries of his subject--and also to his immense historical importance... This is a magnificently fair, full-scale biography." -The Economist

About the Author:

Ron Chernow is the prize-winning author of six books and the recipient of the 2015 National Humanities Medal. His first book, The House of Morgan, won the National Book Award, Washington: A Life won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Biography, and Alexander Hamilton was the inspiration for the Broadway musical. His new biography, Grant, will be published in October 2017. Chernow lives in Brooklyn, New York.

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Press
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 1594202664
• ISBN 13: 9781594202667
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 928