Washington: A Life
Category: Documentary
Narrator: Unknown
Tags: Documentary
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; whi
