![]() ![]() Mostly, says Lears, the country found common cause in “militarism and racism.” Showing how these trends coalesced into a starry-eyed imperialism still evident in American policy, this is a “major work by a leading historian at the top of his game.” This “fascinating cultural history” traces their collective experience through World War I, from ambitious social crusades to a popular fascination with entertainers such as escape artist Harry Houdini. ![]() Curiously, the author’s emphasis on the man’s failures-both military and moral-produces a Washington who is “harsher, yet more human, than any we’ve had before.”įollowing the Civil War, traumatized Americans “attempted to stitch their country back together,” said Beverly Gage in The New York Times. John Ferling’s “fresh, clear-eyed portrait” of the father of our country presents Washington not as a cardboard saint but as a “full-blooded political animal” who sought to accumulate power, deflect blame, and shape how history would view him. “Once in a while” a book revolutionizes our understanding of a figure we thought we knew, said Marie Arana in The Washington Post. ![]()
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