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Title: For King and Country : George Washington: The Early Years by Thomas A. Lewis ISBN: 0-471-10465-5 Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Pub. Date: January, 1995 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.33 (3 reviews)
Rating: 1
Summary: Ignoble Attempt to Defame a Great Man
Comment: If you're looking for proof that revisionism is ruining our collective understanding of history, look no farther than this book. Using the French & Indian War as his backdrop, non-historian Thomas Lewis paints an horrifically inaccurate character portrait of a young George Washington, knowing that being controversial is the quickest way to make a name for yourself in the publishing industry. This disgrace of a book showcases Washington as a dunce of a commander, a filthy Indian-hater, and an egomaniac bent on fame no matter what the cost. This is all very easy to allege when you're in the comfort of your living room and looking at things 200 years after they've happened. Washington didn't have this convinience. In short, don't waste your time with this trash. Stick to reading books about Washington written by people with a grasp on reality such as Douglas Southall Freeman or James Thomas Flexner. Washington was a flawed man, yes; but his flaws only served to make him that much greater of a man. When he reached the end of his life, he could honestly say, "I've laid the foundation for a country." When Lewis dies, he'll be able to say, "Heh-heh, I made a few bucks by writing a crappy little book that had no impact." Therein lies the difference.
Rating: 4
Summary: Very good French and Indian history also...
Comment: This is a very good biography of George Washington during the French and Indian War years. It is written well, enjoyable and easy to read.
One of the things I especially appreciated was the writer explaining just how George Washington became involved with the colonial goverment, so that he was ever asked to be involved in the political situation of the time. Not many books make this clear.
The book not only covers George Washington, but also hits upon the politics of the time and many other important people involved during this exciting historical period.
I am glad I read the book and I recommend it to others. This is an especially good book for those with little knowledge of George Washington's involvement with the British government and the politics of the French and Indian War.
Rating: 5
Summary: Best Biography of Young George Washignton
Comment: This is by far the best biography of the early years of the life of George Washington I have ever read. Lewis gives us not only a brilliant introduction to young Colonel George Washington, but also a vivid analysis of the period of the French and Indian War, including the people, places, and circumstances of the conflict.
The book first gives a background on an adolecent Washington and his boyhood adventures as a surveyor in western Virginia. We learn how he grew up admiring the wealth and lifestyle of his aristocratic neighbors, the Fairfaxes, and how he began a long journey to emmulate them and to be a part of their privileged world. However, Washington's own ambitions pull him in other directions as he becomes deeply involved in the brewing storm of events that would culminate with the conflict with the French and Indians over posession of the Ohio Country and the Trans-Allegheny region. We follow Washington as he attempts to make a name for himself with the Governor of the Virginia colony by accepting a mission to deliver a message to the French army marching south from Lake Erie to the Forks of the Ohio River. This single event pushes Washington from the "shadows of an ordinary life" onto the stage of history. We see as Washington botches his attempt to protect the Forks from a French invasion at Fort Necessity and his anger at his own failure to not only obtain a royal commision in the British army, but to even obtain a victory in battle. Lewis details Washington's involvment in the war from Braddock's disasterous campaign against Fort Dusquene in 1755 to his ultimate anti-climactic success at the end of the long and muddy Forbes' Road in 1758, after which Washington retires from public service to return to the simple life of a farmer forever.
I also enjoyed Lewis' attention to the background of the struggle that served as the forge of experience for young G. W. Here we are exposed to the details and origins of the problems with not only the French, but particularly the Indians living in the Ohio Country and the singularly important role they played and the failure of Washington, or any other whitemen, to grasp that importance. This is evident in both Washington's and Braddock's terrible defeats in the early war years. Lewis gives us fascinating accounts of Washington's peers, his allies, enemies. These are men like Ohio Company scout Christopher Gist, The Seneca chief Tannacharison (Half-King), friend and neighbor George Fairfax, and others. In the end Washington would emerge older and experienced from a bloody conflict prepared to take on an even greater leadership role in another later fight in the not too distant future. A great book that I highly recommend.
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Title: The French-Indian War 1754-1760 by Daniel Marston ISBN: 1841764566 Publisher: Osprey Pub Co Pub. Date: December, 2002 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Facing East from Indian Country : A Native History of Early America by Daniel K. Richter ISBN: 0674011171 Publisher: Harvard Univ Pr Pub. Date: 30 April, 2003 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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Title: Rise to Rebellion by Jeffrey M. Shaara ISBN: 0345452062 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 26 March, 2002 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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