George Washington: The Forge of Experience (1732-1775)

In this deeply significant work, James Thomas Flexner has given life to the stony image of George Washington which stares at us so impersonally from Mount Rushmore, the dollar bill and the schoolroom wall. With a clear, swiftly readable style, Flexner shows the wholly human way in which the character of one of the greatest men in history was shaped and how it, in turn, shaped his achievements. Able and energetic, impulsive and vulnerable, Washington from the first had major virtues - but he was also fallible. Put into a position of leadership in the French-Indian conflict at the age of twenty- two, the young Lieutenant Colonel initiated actions which showed more bravery than good judgement. Yet each mistake - and success - of these early years was part of the vast experience which ultimately molded Washington into what Flexner calls "one of the noblest and greatest men who ever lived." Flexner covers forty-three years of Washington's life in this volume. 390 pages.