Washington
A Life (Pulitzer Prize Winner)
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4.4 • 700개의 평가
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- US$16.99
출판사 설명
From the author of Alexander Hamilton, the New York Times bestselling biography that inspired the musical, comes a gripping portrait of the first president of the United States.
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
“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. I can’t recommend it highly enough—as history, as epic, and, not least, as entertainment.” —Hendrik Hertzberg, The New Yorker
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.
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.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In his introduction, veteran biographer Chernow is clear about his goals. Using the recent "explosion of research," he wants to render George Washington "real" and "credible," to replace "frosty respect" with "visceral appreciation." In many respects, Chernow succeeds. He gives us a Washington who starts with limited education and means and, through a remarkable combination of timely deaths, an incredible capacity for hard work, a shrewd marriage, astonishing physical hardiness and courage, a propensity for land speculation, and a gift for finding influential patrons, transforms himself into a soldier, well-to-do planter, local official, and eventually the only real choice to command the Continental army, preside over the Constitutional Convention, and serve as the first president. Chernow makes familiar scenes fresh (like the crossing of the Delaware) and expertly brings the provisional revolutionary and early Republican eras to life. Along the way, however, he mistakes "visceral" for ardent; while he never hides Washington's less than saintly moments or shirks the vexed question of slavery, he often seems to ignore the data he's collected. Examples of shady dealing are quickly followed by tales of Washington's unimpeachable ethics or impeccable political savvy. At times it feels as if Chernow, for all his careful research and talent for synthesis, is in the grip of a full-scale crush. The result is a good book that would have been great if better edited, and if Chernow had trusted that Washington's many merits, even when accompanied by his faults, would speak for themselves.
사용자 리뷰
Good book
Good biography and quite well researched and presented. It is sometimes difficult and slow to read all the correspondence with cumbersome language
George Washington
I read this book because it was written by Chernow. I had previously read Alexander Hamilton who wound up being my favorite Founding Father. I'm sure he would have been an excellent President had he lived. Because of these readings and others about the founding fathers I came to the same conclusion as both Washington and Hamilton about Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. The Washington history was well researched as is evident by the extensive bibliography, acknowledgments and index. I would have liked to have seen more of the portraits of Washington made over his lifetime.
Simply Marvelous
I've read Chernow's biographies of Hamilton and The House of Morgan, and his bio of George Washington tops them both. Chernow has done a masterful job of humanizing a man who has become a marble statue in most people's minds today. It is clear how much research the author has done, and though there is obviously no shortage of biographies of Washington, he provides unique commentaries from Washington's own correspondence (which was quite voluminous) and gives the reader a complete insight as to who the man really was. Only negative is that I find Chernow's writing style a bit verbose, but the built-in dictionary function on iBooks solves that slight problem.