This is a lively, well-written study of Washington's presidency and subsequent retirement to Mount Vernon; the first U.S. president emerges as a dedicated and politically astute manager who had a tart sense of humor--and who could swear a blue streak, on occasion.

From Library Journal: George Washington's ascent to the presidency of the new republic was at once a personal triumph and a great gamble with something he held most dear--his reputation. Smith (director, Hoover Library) captures well the bittersweet presidential years, when Washington used the vast capital of his personal prestige to cement the bands of a shaky union. With wonderful use of detail and anecdote, Smith argues that Washington was not the mere figurehead that other historians have portrayed but a canny politician who mastered and controlled his brilliant subordinates, Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson. In a lively and engaging style, the author describes Washington's world in New York, Philadelphia, and Mt. Vernon and the major policy issues of the 1790s, especially the vituperative politics of the era. If Norton is not always careful with detail and his chronology is sometimes confusing, this is, nonetheless, history painted in broad strokes with vivid characterization, sure to attract a general readership.

First Edition, hardcover w/book jacket, 424 pages.

 Houghton Mifflin 0-395-52442-3 / 9780395524428
Hardcover As New condition Boston 

Price: 22.73 USD