His Excellency: George Washington is a 2004 biography of the first President of the United States, General George Washington. It was written by Joseph Ellis, a professor of History at Mount Holyoke College, who specializes in the founding fathers and the revolutionary and federalist periods.
Content
Events and themes
In the text, Ellis focuses on three main areas of Washington's life:
- military adventures during the Seven Years' War (French and Indian War)
- generalship in the American Revolution
- service as first President of the United States.
According to Ellis, Washington was always searching for a means to control his inner passions and his destiny. He fumed under the control that the British held over him during the Colonial America period. In particular, he was frustrated by the lack of respect offered for his military achievements to granting land claim rights in the west. As a general, he bemoaned the lack of control the fledgling Continental Congress had over the colonies which composed it. (Later as President, he supported legislation to ensure control by the federal government over the states).
As a man forced to make his own destiny, he made the theme of control central to his life. He asserted such control in his decisions at his beloved plantation, Mount Vernon.
Chapters
- Preface: The Man In The Moon
- Chapter One: Interior Regions
- Chapter Two: The Strenuous Squire
- Chapter Three: First In War
- Chapter Four: Destiny's Child
- Chapter Five: Introspective Interlude
- Chapter Six: First In Peace
- Chapter Seven: Testaments
Reviews
The historian Gordon S. Wood, who has also written about the Revolutionary and federalist periods, wrote in his review in The New Republic that "Ellis's portrait of Washington thus humanizes the man without knocking him off the pedestal where his contemporaries placed him. This Washington is all the greater because he is a real human being with both passions and principles." He also wrote, "Joseph J. Ellis ... has been a one-man historical machine... Ellis has entered the ranks of that tiny group of popular historians, including David McCullough, Walter Isaacson, and Ron Chernow, who sell copies of their books in the tens and even hundreds of thousands."
References
External links
- Steve Inskeep, "New Book Takes Fresh Look at George Washington", Morning Edition, NPR, 25 October 2004
- Jonathan Yardley, Review: "'His Excellency, George Washington'", The Washington Post, 28 October 2004
- Wood, Gordon (16 December 2004). "His Excellency (New Republic book review)". The New Republic (carried at powells.com). Retrieved 2006-08-04.Â
- His Excellency, George Washington, collected reviews and quotes, Powell's Books
