For King and Country: The Maturing of George Washington, 1748-1760

by Thomas A. Lewis

A portrait of George Washington’s formative years provides context to the story we all know.

Genres: American Revolution, Biography, Nonfiction, History

296 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Thomas A. Lewis is a veteran journalist (National Wildlife, Smithsonian magazines) and broadcaster (Voice of America) who has written six non-fiction books, two of which received favorable critical attention nationwide. He became alarmed about the state of the environment while working as the executive editor of the Time-Life Books 16-volume series on the earth sciences, “Planet Earth,” and later when, as roving editor for National Wildlife Magazine, he traveled from Alaska to Costa Rica to chronicle the distress of animals and their ecosystems.

It was while writing “EQ Index,” an annual assessment of the state of the US environment for National Wildlife and The World Almanac, that he began to suspect that pollution and exploitation of natural resources had reached a point of no return. That conviction led to his latest non-fiction work, Brace for Impact: Surviving the Crash of the Industrial Age -- and to the present work of fiction, which imagines how that crash might happen, and how an American family might deal with it.

He lives on a “sustainable-ready” farm in West Virginia where he has learned, he says, that “if my life depended on sustainable living I’d be dead now.”

Reviews

[Jerome Otte · Rating 4 out of 5]

A straightforward, well-researched history of Washington’s life from 1748 to 1760. Lewis does a fine job demonstrating Washington’s ambition. While the popular image of Washington is either of a remote, distant figure or a cartoonish, flawless hero, Lewis emphasizes Washington’s “modest gifts and uncommon ambition.” While the Washington of 1748-1760 was not regarded as a hero by his contemporaries or by later and modern historians, Lewis emphasizes that he did have the “makings of a hero.”

Lewis details Washington’s efforts to make a name for himself as a Virginian and British imperial partner. Washington also comes off as the typical frontiersman of the era, eager to expand westward to increase his own influence and prosperity at the expense of the natives and his own political rivals. In an unsentimental tone, Lewis does a fine job covering Washington’s involvement in the expansion of slavery, the destruction of the natives, and even the degradation of North America’s natural environment. Lewis emphasizes that Washington was “an author and embodiment of two of the most grievous flaws of in our American society: our collective contempt for other races, and our exploitation of land as commodity for trade.”

A well-written, fast-paced, and engaging history.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

The self-promoting extremely confident George Washington in this well researched book presents a fairly clear contrast from the person I had in mind based on previous biographies and histories of the early days in the colonies and the American revolution. Here is a young guy, pretty much on his own, looking to become established and focusing on a potential career in the military. He is motivated, willing to work and not afraid to ask influential people to give him a hand in opening a few doors. He has that weird awkward writing style that he seems to employ to influence or impress people and he doesn't hesitate to jump right into a situation without considering what could happen. This is real history. It is not a new story but it is one that is new to me. The author has presented a new side of George Washington, a very human side and a very engaging story.

[Jenny Karraker · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book, esp learning about the backstory of our first president. During the American revolution, I knew that there was conflict between the British army and the American colonists, but I didn't think about how that conflict was there right from the beginning. The British regiment soldiers got cushy jobs, great retirement benefits, and prestige that the American militia members didn't. Not being a first son who would have inherited everything from his father, Washington choose the military in which to make his fortune and debut into society. He was constantly seeking that recognition and appointment to the British regiment, but was constantly denied it. He became good friends with his wealthy neighbors the Fairfaxes, envying their lifestyle that reflected the often debauched English aristocracy, hoping some day to achieve a comparable status. However, Washington was not able to indulge in the lavish lifestyle due to his need to work. The relationships between the French and English was interesting also. Because of wars in Europe, the French were not able to support their troops as much as they would have liked to, so both sides were constantly near defeat, but assuming the other side was much better equipped and close to victory. The Indians usually waited to see who looked stronger and more likely to win before their threw their allegiance in. Initially they supported the French, but then switched to the side of the British, especially since British goods were cheaper and better made. The communication between the Indians and the British was very poor. The Indians relied more on consensus, so didn't appoint specific leaders at meetings with the British, wanting to take the information back to their councils to discuss. The Indians valued the spoken word,so expected the British to abide by the things that were agreed upon orally, whlle the British relied on documents in writing and often changed what had been agreed upon orally. The Indians signed these papers, not being able to read them and wondering what the big deal was about writing. This obviously led to accusations of treachery and dishonesty on both sides. I hadn't realized that most of these Indian tribes were matriarchal, which meant that the British and the colonists insulted the Indians by not showing respect or consulting the women leaders. I had read elsewhere that Washington started his career as a surveyor. This was necessary because of the conflicts between the English kings and the companies that invested and established the colonies: the King gave away land in Virginia and elsewhere as a reward to British soldiers, but this same land had been often pioneered and settled by the colonists. Thus surveyors were needed to measure out the specific measurements and bring agreement between both parties who were contesting the same territory. The author brought out 2 flaws of Washington and early leaders that he asserted set a precedent in American history--the disregard and lack of respect for other races and the abuse of the land. Washington and others looked down on the Indians as savages, not recognizing the complexity of their culture. The French as well as the American colonists who lived out on the frontier w a primitive lifestyle (compared with the luxuries and sophistication of life back in the East) were mocked and criticized. Stephen Ambrose in Dauntless Courage (about the Lewis and Clark expedition) also talks about the environmental abuse of the land, perpetrated by the early colonists obsession with tobacco and draining the soil of its nutrients by not letting the land lie fallow or rotating their crops (the way the German settlers did in Pennsylvania). In the many years when Washington was a member of the colonial militia and when he was appointed the head of the Virginia military, he encountered many frustrating situations that in hindsight trained him to lead the American Revolution years down the road. The ruling parties in Virginia promised supplies and men to fight the battles against the French and to protect the settlers from the Indians, but they seldom paid what was due the men, didn't send adequate supplies, and had no concept of what was happening. Orders for enlistment were given, but men refused to leave their farms to fight and Washington has no means to enforce the orders. Washington was often ordered to build forts with non-existent supplies, march and attack French forts though there were no roads to get there. With no modern communication between the ruling classes in the East and the soldiers in the West, the left hand didn't know what the right hand was doing or thinking. Washington often threatened to quit when he didn't get the things he needed, and often to be spiteful, and several times he did. Yet he always came back because of his commitment to the country as a whole rather than to advance his personal well being. This also was a foreshadowing of his dedication and strength of character to hang in there despite terrible odds.