I just finished, much to my sadness, Ron Chernow's fantastic bio of George Washington. I had never read a bio of Washington before, because he always seemed overshadowed by the more glamorous biography picks like FDR, TR, Lincoln, and Reagan. But this book was fantastic and filled that void. Whether it was his difficult childhood and prickly mother, his love-hate relationship with fame and money and comfort yet his humbleness and his desire to go back to his beloved Mount Vernon, to his flirtatious ways yet devotion to Martha, to his strength of character, his dignity, his honor, and his devotion, I was so impressed with the man. His love for his family, his country, and his home really transcended Chernow's pages. I was very interested in his description of Washington's desire to free his slaves, yet his knowledge that he depended on them and his fear that his country wouldn't survive their freedom.
George Washington was no saint, but he was a hero. He was a complicated, complex man who was contradictory at times, displayed an ego, struggled to hold his temper in check, was plagued by tragedy and loss, and was a consummate family man despite the fact that he had no biological children of his own.
He was a leader at a time that the infant country desperately yearned for one, and despite his apparent reluctance, he became the greatest of leaders. He was not a remarkable general, or the most intelligent of men. He was surronded by some of the leading men of all of time, yet he was greater than them all. I really do appreciate now the evocation: First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen. Nearly 211 years after his death, Washington was still alive in the pages of Chernow's book. Definitely my favorite read of 2010.
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