Washington: The Indispensable Man (Illustrated Editions) - Hardcover

Flexner, James Thomas

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 140277821X ISBN 13: 9781402778216

Publisher: Union Square & Co., 2012

Synopsis

Historian James Thomas Flexner's multi-award-winning and magisterial four-volume biography of George Washington moved beyond what the author termed “the marble image” to reveal the man behind the icon. This updated illustrated edition--based on the bestselling 1974 one-volume abridgement--enhances Flexner's graceful prose with an assortment of rare maps, lost letters, and historical images, giving readers an unmatched perspective on the man whose inspired leadership as soldier and statesman made him the indispensable rallying point of a daring revolution and the bulwark of a new nation.

About this title

About the Author:

James Thomas Flexner (1908-2003) was the author of the prize-winning, four-volume biography of George Washington, for which he won a National Book Award and a special Pulitzer Prize citation. His one-volume abridgment, Washington: The Indispensable Man (1974), is the basis for Sterling Signature's illustrated edition. Flexner was also the author of The Young Hamilton (on Alexander Hamilton), Mohawk Baronet (on Sir William Johnson), and The Traitor and the Spy: Benedict Arnold and John Andre, and many books on American art.

Review:

"Originally published two years before America's bicentennial, this substantially illustrated biography (an abridged version of the late author's National Book Award-winning four-volume account of George Washington's life) tracks the multitalented man from his humble beginnings as a surveyor through his role as a founding father to the newly created presidency, and beyond. Flexner deftly 'rescue[s]' Washington from the grip of mythologies that showed him as merely a truth-telling tree-cutter or 'a procession of mirrors reflecting' people's political attitudes, and situates him as 'a fallible human being made of flesh and blood and spirit.' . . . With casual readers in mind, the author addresses crucial historical events, revolutionary personalities, key battles, and pressing political issues (while elucidating their contemporary contexts) in consistently crisp and lively language. Featuring numerous portraits, maps, facsimiles, and transcripts (e.g., of Washington's farewell address), this gorgeous volume solidifies 'the multitude of living ghosts' that make up Washington in the popular mind." --Publishers Weekly (STARRED REVIEW)

About this edition

• Publisher: Union Square & Co.
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 140277821X
• ISBN 13: 9781402778216
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 435