George Washington Reconsidered

by Don Higginbotham

George Washington, heroic general of the Revolution, master of Mount Vernon, and first president of the United States, remains the most enigmatic figure of the founding generation, with historians and the public at large still arguing over the strengths of his character and the nature of his intellectual and political contributions to the early republic. Representing the finest recent scholarship on Washington, these thirteen essays by the leading scholars in the field strike a balance between Washington's personal life and character and his public life as a soldier and political figure. Editor Don Higginbotham provides an introduction about Washington and his treatment by historians, and an afterword devoted to how the American people have viewed Washington, including the 1999 commemorations of the bicentennial of his death. With three essays written specifically for this volume, George Washington Reconsidered is the first collection of its kind to be published in over thirty years.

Genres: American History

336 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 2001

About the author

Don Higginbotham was an American historian and Dowd Professor of History and Peace, War, and Defense at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Reviews

[Martin Herbordt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bought this at Mt Vernon to get a piecewise biography of GW. A series of scholarly papers but also some of general interest. As usual with this sort of collection, many of the most obscure are the most interesting, like one on the design of the plantation. Enjoyed especially articles on context, i.e., life of the family before immigration; and the general character studies.