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• Amazon Sales Rank: #75478 in Books
• Published on: 2009-06-02
• Released on: 2009-05-26
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 464 pages

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• ISBN13: 9781596914650
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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From The Washington Post
From The Washington Post's Book World/washingtonpost.com Once in a while a book comes along to remind us that history has no gods, that the past is less fossil than textbooks suggest and America more vibrant than a mere list of principles. John Ferling's "Ascent of George Washington" is just such a book: a fresh, clear-eyed portrait of the full-blooded political animal that was George Washington. "Much of the aura that surrounded Washington in life and death," writes Ferling -- his air of military brilliance, his wariness of power, his stoical nonpartisanship -- "was mythological." In truth, his battlefield fiascos were legion, his will to power fierce, his political instincts well-honed, even Machiavellian. But since supermen are as necessary to fledgling nations as they are to children, the legend that bloomed in his own time and hardened over the next two centuries gives us an intrepid general, a virtuous first president and, as biographer James Thomas Flexner put it, "the gentlest of history's great captains, one of the heroes of the human race." According to Ferling, no one worked harder to make us believe this than George Washington himself. He was "mad for glory," success being a useful obsession for a wartime general or a presidential candidate. There is no doubt he was the right man for America at the right time, but as Ferling shows, he was also as calculating as he needed to be: shockingly capable of blaming others for his errors, so eager for power that he didn't hesitate to trample anyone who stood in his way. The picture that emerges here is harsher, yet more human, than any we've had before. It's as if a trusted historian with ample laurels were taking us aside, speaking to us like adults, letting us in on the very grown-up information that the father of our country may have been a great man in very many ways, but was also as cunning and as complicated as any modern-day politician. Indeed, the country whose fortunes he oversaw has strong parallels to the one we currently live in. Struggling to recover from war, the United States faced a dangerously spiraling economy. The long-ignored social issue of the day -- slavery -- was a powder keg waiting to explode. Into this roiling scenario, the first president stepped, with an extraordinarily high approval rating. But Washington was no surprise candidate. His road to glory had been carefully plotted. Since childhood, he had always wanted more than his family could give him. He longed to own vast farmlands and become a wealthy member of the planter aristocracy. Even as an adolescent, he lusted after his much older stepbrother's country house, a place called Mount Vernon. But when George's father died, the money died with him. There was none left for George's continuing education. The boy was quick, nevertheless, to see opportunities as they unfolded. Teaching himself surveying, he acquired 2,500 acres of land before he was 20. Taking a cue from his stepbrother, who had risen in society via the military, Washington approached the governor of Virginia and requested an appointment in King George II's army. He cut an impressive figure as a military man. As Ferling describes it, he "made an early habit of standing ramrod straight, dressed well and fashionably, and learned to look others in the eye." He may not have been handsome, but he was striking, and he made use of his tall, imposing frame to tower over his peers. Playing up to his superiors, he painstakingly recast himself in their mold. But with his first taste of combat came his first mistake. Carrying out a stealth attack on a small band of Frenchmen who were moving through Virginia from Ohio, Washington ordered his men to fire. A Seneca tribe joined in the butchery. Even as it became obvious that the traveling group was a peaceful one, he made no effort to stop the carnage. When the time came to report the error, he pinned the blame on his translator. It wasn't the last time he would make a colleague the scapegoat. A few years later, he decided to take on a large force of enemy raiders threatening a British supply post, but in the haze of dusk he didn't realize he was ordering an attack on a fellow detachment. Forty were killed in the friendly fire. Not only did he blame the commander of the other troops, Washington "took the lion's share of the credit" for having stopped the slaughter. That tendency to shunt the blame did not wane as he matured into a soldier with greater responsibilities; it emerged again and again when he was commander in chief of the Continental Army. He made sure that, in spite of all the mishaps and missed opportunities, every victory from the Carolinas to Yorktown was seen as his personal triumph. There's no doubt about it: A burning ambition fueled Washington's ascent. And yet, by the end of the Revolution, he was revered as our greatest American, the embodiment of all values and virtues the country held dear: a calm head, a generous heart, a strong, unassailable character. He kept sharp watch over that image, Ferling says. From monitoring his official portraits to overseeing every stitch of his official uniforms, he was keenly aware of the history he was making. As president, Washington continued to be a master of self-interested realpolitik. He chose the site of the capital because he wanted it near Falls Church and Alexandria, towns in which he owned property. He signed Alexander Hamilton's bank bill into law on a quid pro quo that ensured the District's boundaries were most favorable to his real estate interests. As Thomas Jefferson and Hamilton faced off, shaping the partisan politics that would rattle down history to this very day, Washington played the two against each other -- throwing in James Madison for good measure. Eventually, although Washington resisted efforts to make him a king, he relished the trappings of power so much that he began to be seen as a little foppish, a little too fond of pomp, a little too reminiscent of the British monarch the patriots had just managed to drive from our shores. He hosted formal receptions. He rode in a lavish carriage attended by coachmen and slaves. He trotted from village to village on a great white stallion to be received by the adoring masses. Some began to refer to his affectations as "the grandeur of our AMERICAN COURT." Then again, the George Washington whom Ferling depicts was never "favorably disposed toward democracy." He dragged his heels when it came to liberating America's slaves. He chose Hamilton's mighty money colossus over the messier business of Jefferson's republicanism. He was hardly the paragon of virtue his countrymen were led to believe he was. But whatever the real man's ambitions and impulses, it was the mythical Washington who gave us the shining hero our young nation needed. In John Ferling's eminently readable, landmark interpretation, we cannot help but marvel at the man. aranam@washpost.com
Copyright 2009, The Washington Post. All Rights Reserved.

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A political biography of George Washington
The thesis of this volume is straightforward (Page xix): "This book, however, takes issue with [many historians'] portrayal of Washington as nonpolitical and steadfastly seeking to stay above politics." The author, John Ferling, also notes Washington's vaulting ambition and his willingness to use a variety of tactics to achieve his goals. Thus, this book can be deemed a political biography of George Washington.

The basic approach is laid out early. Washington did not have much of an education and was acutely aware of this shortcoming. Using his older brother from their father's first marriage as a model (Lawrence Washington), he set out to create a military success and use that as a steppingstone to wealth and success. To his advantage, Washington had a number of powerful patrons, who helped him in his ascent.

The book chronicles his up and down military career during the 1750s, his inveterate lobbying for military advancement, his "fights" with governors and military personnel to get the recognition that he desired. And, indeed, this represents one of my questions about the book. Ferling notes that others see Washington as "disinterested," but Ellis, in his excellent biography called "His Excellency," makes some of the same points, although in more nuanced terms. In that, it sometimes seems to me that Ferling is understating points made in other biographies to make his appear the more unique.

His ambitions were also supported by a marriage into wealth and an eminent family. From there, the arc of his well know life is traced--from the state legislature and his plantation to his role in the Revolutionary War to his accession to the presidency. Through all these stages of his life, Ferling notes his ambition. He also contends that, as President, Washington was far from the nonpartisan president described by many. Ellis, for instance, speaks of Washington often "levitating" above the partisan factionalism of his cabinet and of the emerging first party system. Ferling has none of that.

All in all, an interesting "take" on the life of George Washington. My own sense is that Ferling may take his thesis a bit further than warranted; he also sets up some straw men (like Ellis) to distinguish himself from their views of Washington. Nonetheless, his political biography makes Washington more human as a person than some volumes do, and that is to the good. The work also emphasizes the political side of Washington in a manner that has some credibility. All in all, I would recommend this book for its political orientation on George Washington.

A masterful portrait of Washington the political genius
John Ferling has a well deserved reputation for writing history books that breathe life into mere facts. His book A Leap in the Dark remains for many the finest account of the American republic's formation yet written. What lifted that book above stiff competition from the likes of Bernard Bailyn and Gordon S. Wood was its cinematic sweep and its riveting narrative. Here was a widescreen presentation of history that shone a light on the flesh and blood characters whose lives and purpose (we were constantly reminded) were under the invariable threat of the hangman's noose. It was the stark contingency of those revolutionary events and the ever present possibility of a tragic outcome for all of the founding fathers that Ferling made palpably real for the reader. It was history with a pulse.

Ferling has managed the same feat with his new study of Washington the political thinker. It is a subject that has rarely been presented before. Washington has always seemed to have risen above politics. Historians have presented him as a great arbiter, a kind-of referee between the left-wing Jefferson and the right-wing Hamilton. The struggle between those two titans continues to resonate today. But Washington was more than a passive bystander. He was an extremely gifted political infighter, masterfully capable of persuasion, manipulation and 'plausible deniability': a tactic widely used by presidents forced to make unpopular decisions. Although Washington possessed a burning ambition to succeed as president, considering it the inevitable capstone to his brilliant career, his genius is proven by his ability to screen his ambitions behind a mask of republican virtue and to successfully hide his political adroitness until he was no longer thought of as a politician at all.

Ferling discusses all of Washington's prismatic talents. He presents this great leader as a full-blown, three-dimensional titan of American history without encasing him in marble. More than merely a feather on the breeze, Washington frequently exhibited an uncanny ability to manipulate the flow of events. His oft discussed Christmas farewell to the troops is a prime example of a nascent master politician taking advantage of an opportunity by astutely reading the symbolic power of a particular course of action. Closing the book on his military career he opened a new one as the young nation cast its eyes about for a peace time leader.

What history has often portrayed as Washington's disinterestedness in political events, of his strict impartiality, freedom from self-interest or selfish bias is really a product of his talent for appearing above the fray. The frequent political skirmishes that roiled his cabinet were a means for Washington to determine a course of action and were never allowed to capsize his administration. It is emblematic of his political mastery that despite the noisy quarrels between factions splitting his cabinet, he is viewed as having sided with neither and silencing neither.

This is living history, masterfully written. If you find American history even mildly interesting, you'll relish this book for its unflinching ability to uncover the real man behind the great Washington myth. Strongly recommended.

Mike Birman

Ambitious and foolish narcissist, or American Hero
My disclaimer;
I am not a history scholar in any sense of the word. I thought "The Ascent of George Washington , The hidden Political Genius of an American Icon" would be an interesting read and I might glean some insight from this American Hero to help me in my life.


I went to school in the late `60s through the mid `70s, so I had my share of disaffected "Hippy" teachers who had their share of anti-establishment views about government and venerated leaders of the past, so the information in this political biography about George Washington didn't come as a complete surprise. What did come as a surprise was the depth and breadth of "humanizing" the icon that is known as the "Father of our Country".


The author John Ferling is a well written scholar on the time period, so I assume he knows the veracity of what he states, but sourcing so many enemies of Washington as the fount of information on the character flaws of Washington as well as other "Founding Fathers" such as Thomas Jefferson as self interested profiteers made me a bit uncomfortable.

If the author is to be believed, Washington was an ambitious and foolish narcissist, who lacked any military skills and only led men to their foolish deaths. A man who's vanity and political machinations ruined the careers and reputations of more able and responsible military officers, and nearly scuttled the revolutionary war through his bungling of tactics, and only through luck and "Divine Providence" did America prevail.


I didn't care much for the majority of the book, which at least to me, defamed great men "with new insight" gleaned over 200 years after the fact. What I did enjoy however, was the covering of the early years of the new republic during Washington's "Presidential Years". The political infighting between Hamilton and Jefferson was very fascinating.


So if there was an overall thesis to this book for me, it is that if the media gets behind an ambitious fool he can become a leader and a symbol, as long as he can put his self interest above the interest of those around him, and with a lot of luck, it might work out okay in the end. At least the book made me want to read more on the time period to get a more uplifting view. I guess that might make me a foolish Pollyanna, (which really isn't me) but I for one am grateful for the sacrifice of our "Founding Fathers" , and though I know every man has a plethora of faults, pointing them out should have some useful purpose, and I'm not sure I got one from this volume.