Founding Father: Rediscovering George Washington by Richard Brookisher - reviewed by Samantha_kathy

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Founding Father: Rediscovering George Washington by Richard Brookisher - reviewed by Samantha_kathy

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1Samantha_kathy
dec 7, 2012, 9:56 am

I've been gone for a while from this group, but now I'm back. And I come with a review for a non-fiction book, which are always the reviews that I have the most trouble with. Comments are very welcome.

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Founding Father: Rediscovering George Washington by Richard Brookisher

Founding Father by Richard Brookisher, a biography about George Washington, is divided into three parts: Washington’s career, his character, and Washington as founding father. I came into this book knowing next to nothing about George Washington, or the history of the United States. And while it is clear Brookisher writes for an American audience – as evident by some remarks about “common knowledge” that are totally unknown here in Europe by the majority of people – his story about Washington was easily followed. Throughout the book, there’s a dry wit in the writing that I enjoyed.

The first part about his career left me with the impression Washington was a good, honorable man with high morals, possessing the intelligence to know when to speak up and when to keep silent. The chapter about the constitution dragged a bit in places, but that’s probably due to personal taste, as I didn’t particularly care for the back-and-forth quoted opinions in this part. What most struck me after reading about Washington’s career was how much influence he had on the forming of the United States of America as we know it now. I believe that the independence of the USA would have been lost under any other political leader, or it would have fallen apart in self-governed states or regions eventually.

In the part about Washington’s character, I thought that Brookisher truly showed his objectivity. He neither hero-worshipped Washington, nor did he put him down as some of the other biographers (contemporary and historically) have done. He presented his arguments clearly and showed how he formed them, so that the reader could either agree or disagree based on the evidence he presented to make his point. It’s this that many biographers fail at, and I commend Brookisher for doing it right.

The last part, about Washington as founding father, was not as strong as the rest of the book. I understand what Brookisher was trying to do here, namely exploring the term founding father as it applied to Washington, but compared to the other two parts it fell flat. There was a lot of philosophical ideas discussed here, and that made it more about an abstract idea than about Washington. However, the part about slavery stood out as being strong again, mainly because it did deal directly with Washington.

All in all this was a moving book about a great man. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants a good overview of Washington’s life and a balanced view of who he was as a man.

2readafew
dec 12, 2012, 2:04 pm

Overall, I think it is a good review. There is something a little awkward in the first paragraph, just not sure what it is. Now I kinda want to read the book.

3TLCrawford
dec 12, 2012, 2:53 pm

Maybe this...

"Founding Father" by Richard Brookisher, is a biography of George Washington it divided into three parts: Washington’s career, his character, and Washington as founding father. I came to this book knowing next to nothing about George Washington or the history of the United States. And while it is clear that Brookisher writes for an American audience – as evident by some remarks about “common knowledge” that is totally unknown in Europe by the majority of people – his story about Washington was easy to follow. Throughout the book, there’s a dry wit in the writing that I enjoyed.

Some punctuation changes and some very minor edits. Does it read any better?

4readafew
dec 12, 2012, 5:36 pm

yep, I think that reads better.

5Samantha_kathy
dec 27, 2012, 2:58 pm

Thanks for the comments! I'm a little late, but Christmas holidays are always busier than any given work week.

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