Life of George Washington - Volume 01

by Washington Irving

This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.

Genres: History, Biography, Nonfiction, American History, Historical, Classics

284 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1878

About the author

People remember American writer Washington Irving for the stories " Rip Van Winkle " and " The Legend of Sleepy Hollow ," contained in The Sketch Book (1820).

This author, essayist, biographer and historian of the early 19th century wrote newspaper articles under the pseudonym Jonathan Oldstyle to begin his literary career at the age of nineteen years.

In 1809, he published The History of New York under his most popular public persona, Diedrich Knickerbocker.

Historical works of Irving include a five volume biography of George Washington (after whom he was named) as well as biographies of Oliver Goldsmith, Muhammad, and several histories, dealing with subjects, such as Christopher Columbus, the Moors, and the Alhambra, of 15th-century Spain. John Tyler, president, appointed Irving to serve as the first Spanish speaking United States minister to Spain from 1842 to 1846.

Reviews

[Selah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely incredible, in-depth history related to the life of an incredible man. Amazing book! Loved every minute reading it.

[Delores · Rating 5 out of 5]

Volume 1 and 2 so far.
Just excellent! Yes, it is awful for the typos, but you get used to those just as you do the 19th century prose. I was surprised when I discovered that I had all five volumes in the copy I obtained from Amazon Kindle. Since the Goodreads overview only describes this as a 296 page work, it was quite unexpected when at 300 pages I was only about 23% of the way along. I kept reading. I recommend that anyone who wants an enjoyable, yet very detailed, account of the Revolutionary War and times take up this book. Just because you know how the story ends does not mean you know this level of detail about the road to victory and the after-story.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn't realize until yesterday that this was actually five volumes long.

[Rugg Ruggedo · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most interesting Americans biogrphy,written by my favorite American author. Irving considered this biography,written in five parts, to be his finest work. He himself described this work as both anecdotal, regressive, and "flexible" in his narrative, but he also calls it "essentially historic".
American History,in very nearly first hand accounts. One of the earliest biographies of our first president, by one of our very first writers with international fame and admiration. Altho this is not exactly the facts as we see them today, this is the story of a man's life written by someone who had a chance to talk to people who knew him. Its a very interesting angle, and one that no one today can tell.
This was a five volume biography as published,the books I read are from a Complete Washington Irving series. This first volume is "Early Life, Expeditions, and Campaigns". I love the details of how he grew up, and especially the stuff about how he met people that would become important to who he would become. The material on his first experience with the military in the French and Indian War,also gives some insight to how be became the man he became in the Revolution.
As much as this is the story of George Washington,its also the story of the beginnings of The United States, so these accounts of history are important in that context too.

[Fran · Rating 4 out of 5]

Volumes 1 and 2 are a biography of George Washington.What I am learning is a lot of history I never learned in school. These books were published in the mid 1880's as best as I can tell. The grammer is quite different and stilted by today's standards and some of the words I have never encountered before but once into the book itself, it is becoming easier to follow. I could even say it is fascinating reading and I am getting hooked. Interestingly enough there is no mention of the cherry tree in George's childhood. I will have to look into that one of these days. These books have been on my shelf for years and I never even opened them.Can't believe it. Now I hope I have enough time left to read all 40 books in the set.

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

The 'Life of George Washington (Volume 1 - Early Life, Expeditions, and Campaigns),' by Washington Irving is a great read. The book is divided up into manageable chapters, which are easy to read. This is the first of four volumes.

I found this book to be a great reference book for early American history and a great biographical work on the first president of the United States. I found the account of the French and Indian War, and Washington's part in it, of great interest. It has greatly increased by knowledge of this period in the history of the United States.

[Rock · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent biography!
More history not directly involving Washington then I expected, but very interesting.
The writing flow is great though when quoting old letters it can take a couple of readings to fully understand it, due to the old-time writing.
1 down 4 to go!

Correct book info;
Life Of George Washington, Vol. 1
Geoffrey Crayon Edition, complete in 27 volumes, Vol. XX
p.566

[Hoshi]

Washington Irving could have been mistaken for having a crush on George Washington and sometimes I wondered if he was choosing to only cast a favorable light on what George Washington did. Despite that realization, I thought the story was interesting and captivating.