His Excellency: George Washington

New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2004. First edition. Stated. Presumed first printing. Hardcover. Very good/very good. xiv, 320. [3] p. Illustrations. Notes. Index. This biographical study of George Washington, the founding father who was "first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen, " reexamines the personal and public sides of the man who set this nation on its course and became its first president. Joseph Ellis draws on voluminous research, and especially on the archives in the University of Virginia, displaying the same masterly grasp of the period as he did in his bestselling FOUNDING BROTHERS and his biography of Thomas Jefferson, AMERICAN SPHINX. Setting Washington in his time, class, and milieu, Ellis explores how Washington's relations with his family as well as his commercial relations with England as a landowner shaped his thinking, and how Washington rose above his contemporaries in his evolving views on slavery. Ellis comes up with a fresh picture of a landowner, general, and statesman who played a significant role in the debates of the period about which direction the new nation should take. His solid account of this decisive figure brushes away the myths of history and presents a refreshingly readable and interesting portrait.