In the Name of the Father: Washington's Legacy, Slavery, and the Making of a Nation

Furstenberg, Francois

ISBN 10: 1594200920 / ISBN 13: 9781594200922

Published by Penguin Press, New York, 2006

About this Item

335 pages, illustrations; 25 cm. Tight, clean copy. Fine DJ. *** "How did people in our country-North and South, East and West-come to share a remarkably durable and consistent common vision of what it meant to be an American in the first fifty years after the Revolution? How did the nation respond to the problem of slavery in a republic? In the Name of the Father immerses us in the rich, riotous world of what Francois Furstenberg calls civic texts, the patriotic words and images circulating through every corner of the country in newspapers and almanacs, books and primers, paintings and even the most homely of domestic ornaments. We see how the leaders of the founding generation became 'the founding fathers,' how their words, especially George Washington's, became America's sacred scripture. And we see how the civic education they promoted is impossible to understand outside the context of America's increasing religiosity. In the Name of the Father is filled with vivid stories of American print culture, including a wonderful consideration of the first great American hack biographer cum bookseller, Parson Weems, author of the first blockbuster Washington biography. But Francois Furstenberg's achievement is not limited to showing what all these civic texts were and how they infused Americans with a national spirit: how they created what Abraham Lincoln so famously called 'the mystic chords of memory.' He goes further to show how the process of defining the good citizen in America was complicated and compromised by the problem of slavery. Ultimately, we see how reconciling slavery and republican nationalism would have fateful consequences that haunt us still, in attitudes toward the socially powerless that persist in America to this day. / Francois Furstenberg was born in Washington, D.C., and grew up in Boston, Massachusetts, and Washington. After graduating with a BA from Columbia University, he worked for several years in Paris before pursuing his graduate studies in history at The Johns Hopkins University, where he earned his Ph.D. in 2003. He was a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in U.S. history at Cambridge University, England, for one year, after which he moved to Montreal, Canada, where he is an assistant professor of history at the Universite de Montreal." - Publisher. Size: 8vo.

Seller Inventory # 124313

Bibliographic Details

• Title: In the Name of the Father: Washington's Legacy, Slavery, and the Making of a Nation
• Publisher: Penguin Press, New York
• Publication Date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1594200920
• ISBN 13: 9781594200922
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st.
• Condition: Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Fine
• Seller catalogs:
  • A BARGAIN BASEMENT
  • XL: Extra Large

About this title

Synopsis

Documents the ways in which George Washington's words, image, and mythology shaped America's fledgling republic and feelings of nationalism throughout the first fifty years after the Revolutionary War, offering insight into the pivotal role played by slavery issues. 30,000 first printing.

About the Author

François Furstenberg was born in Washington, D.C., and grew up in Boston, Massachusetts, and Washington. After graduating with a BA from Columbia University, he worked for several years in Paris before pursuing his graduate studies in history at The Johns Hopkins University, where he earned his Ph.D. in 2003. He was a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in U.S. history at Cambridge University, England, for one year, after which he moved to Montreal, Canada, where he is an assistant professor of history at the Université de Montréal.