Product Description

Much has been written in the past two centuries about George Washington the statesman and “father of his country.” Less often discussed is Washington’s military career, including his exploits as a young officer and his performance as the Revolutionary War commander in chief. Now, in a revealing work of historical biography, Edward Lengel has written the definitive account of George Washington the soldier.

Based largely on Washington’s personal papers, this engrossing book paints a vivid, factual portrait of a man to whom lore and legend so tenaciously cling. To Lengel, Washington was the imperfect commander. Washington possessed no great tactical ingenuity, and his acknowledged “brilliance in retreat” only demonstrates the role luck plays in the fortunes of all great men. He was not an enlisted man’s leader; he made a point of never mingling with his troops. He was not an especially creative military thinker; he fought largely by the book.

He was not a professional, but a citizen soldier, who, at a time when warfare demanded that armies maneuver efficiently in precise formation, had little practical training handling men in combat. Yet despite his flaws, Washington was a remarkable figure, a true man of the moment, a leader who possessed a clear strategic, national, and continental vision, and who inspired complete loyalty from his fellow revolutionaries, officers, and enlisted men. America could never have won freedom without him.

A trained surveyor, Washington mastered topography and used his superior knowledge of battlegrounds to maximum effect. He appreciated the importance of good allies in times of crisis, and understood well the benefits of coordination of ground and naval forces. Like the American nation itself, he was a whole that was greater than the sum of its parts–a remarkable everyman whose acts determined the course of history. Lengel argues that Washington’s excellence was in his completeness, in how he united the military, political, and personal skills necessary to lead a nation in war and peace.

At once informative and engaging, and filled with some eye-opening revelations about Washington, the war for American independence, and the very nature of military command, General George Washington is a book that reintroduces readers to a figure many think they already know.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1116656 in Books
• Published on: 2005-06-07
• Released on: 2005-06-07
• Format: Bargain Price
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 496 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Lengel's Washington is the archetypal American soldier—an amateur citizen in arms who struggles to learn an unfamiliar and demanding craft on the job—one who is at the opposite pole from the paragon described in Douglas Southall Freeman's seven-volume biography. A military historian and associate editor of Washington's papers, Lengel presents a Washington who was not a creative military thinker, who made no contributions to the theory of war and who conducted his operations, Lengel argues, conventionally and unreflectively. He lacked an eye for defensive positions and could be dangerously rash in attack. More serious, Lengel finds, was Washington's consistent overestimation of the fighting power of his own forces relative to the British. But though Washington was no more than a competent soldier, he excelled as a war leader. Lengel praises his strategic vision, and his perception of America as a nation of free people with a collective destiny, as well as his bravery in battle, loyalty to his subordinates, indefatigability in his administration at all levels and his concern for the welfare of his troops. Lengel also shows Washington as a superb politician, whose relations with civilian authorities were almost uniformly good, and who was dedicated to the cause of independence. For Lengel, Washington's character inspired the trust necessary for any successful revolution. This outstanding work does that character justice. (June 7)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
George Washington has been the subject of several new biographies in the past decade (e.g., His Excellency, by Joseph Ellis, 2004). Lengel is a Washington scholar who chronicles his checkered military career, linking events from Washington's humiliation by the French at Fort Necessity in 1754 to victory with the French at Yorktown in 1781 with evaluations about Washington's ability on every occasion. Lengel is not impressed by Washington's record in the field, which was dotted with disasters until the 1776-77 victories at Trenton and Princeton, recounted in the brilliant Washington's Crossing, by David Hackett Fischer (2004). In Lengel's assessment, Washington got into perilous tactical positions through incautious or mismanaged aggressiveness. It is in the less-celebrated area of logistics that Lengel becomes nearly effusive, appraising Washington as an outstanding military administrator. In making his academic points, however, Lengel maintains a fluid and suitably dramatic narrative of Washington's campaigns and battles. A boon for military history readers. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
Advance praise for General George Washington: A Military Life


“Although there is no such thing as definitive history, Lengel’s book now tops the list as the most comprehensive and authoritative study of Washington’s military career ever written.”
–Joseph J. Ellis, author of His Excellency: George Washington

“Historians have long debated George Washington’s generalship. Now, armed with many previously untapped sources obtained by the acclaimed Papers of George Washington project Edward Lengel enters the fray with a full-scale biography of Washington the soldier. With a sharp eye for drama, a mastery of detail, and balanced and insightful judgments, Lengel gives us a brilliant and compelling study of the military strengths and weaknesses of the remarkable man who was ‘first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen.’”
–John Whiteclay Chambers II, Rutgers University, editor of The Oxford Companion to American Military History

“Ed Lengel knows the Washington military papers as have few historians, past or present. His study of Washington’s career as a soldier is a model of clarity and judicious analysis. It deserves a wide readership.”
–Don Higginbotham, Dowd Professor of History, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

“Lengel has immersed himself in the most important sources bearing on Washington’s military life. He has not neglected other primary sources, and he has also used existing scholarship well. The result is a book that covers Washington’s military career from beginning to end and offers fresh insights into Washington’s role in the American Revolution.”
–Robert Middlekauff, Preston Hotchkis Professor of American History, Emeritus, University of California, Berkeley


From the Hardcover edition...

Customer Reviews

Solid Research, Exciting Book.........
Edward Lengel has meticulously superseded previous attempts to define the strategy of Washington through the Revolutionary war.
As associate professor of history at the Universtiy of Virgina, Lengel mixes his background of military historic perspective and exhastive investigative research of Washington's personal papers and communique's throughout 1760's-1785 and comes away with an award winning piece of literature that brings Washington's dilemmas and challanges to life.
Lengel's writting style is never overbearing so anyone interested in understanding the events may do so with much enthusiasm, most will find it difficult to put down.
Many interesting facts of Washington's character, judgements, and leadership capabilites are brought to life in a manner that incorporates them into events that would determine the outcome of not only the future republic but many of his commanders and associates.
Begining with Washington's early non military experience and failures, Lengel sets the stage for observing his refusal to accept defeat, always keeping the bigger vision and inspiring those who served him.
Details set aside, "General George Washington" is a fascinating and invigorating piece of work that will be read by anyone who may want an intriguing insight into a man who simply refused to capitulate or compromise his vision.
A brilliant piece of work for the ages............

Excellent-- a book to buy, not just borrow
This is a wonderful book. The book starts with Washington's involvement in the French and Indian War, continues on through the American Revolution, into his Presidency and even after his "retirement." As the book title states, this book is about Washington's military life, and the book sticks to that subject.
For those who have little knowledge of Washington's military life, this book would be an excellent book to read. Many people know of Yorktown, and Valley Forge, and the Battle of Trenton (the crossing of the Delaware), but may have never heard of Washington's exploits before the American Revolution in the French and Indian War when he fought for the British. This book covers that portion of his life and well as his military career after the American Revolution.
There are, of course, entire books written on any single event covered in this book. For instance, one could find many full length books on just the subject of Yorktown, or Valley Forge or the Crossing of the Delaware and the Battle of Trenton or George's involvement in the French and Indian War or the Whisky Rebellion. The strength of this book is while it doesn't cover any one event in as much detail, it does covers them all.
And for those who have read much on Washington's military career, this is still a good book. It puts in order all the different battles and dramas of Washington's military life to show how each affected the others. Besides, the book is simply an enjoyable book to read--it is well written and entertaining. Along the way, the author offers logical opinions of Washington's strengths and weaknesses, and while I didn't agree with all of these opinions, it didn't affect my enjoyment of the book in any way.
While I have read many excellent books on subjects and events covered in this one, this book was a good read to me just because it put everything in Washington's career back into chronological order--a thing than can be disrupted when reading many separate books on various parts of Washington's life.
So whether one is a newcomer to the subject of Washington or well read on the subject, I don't think anyone will be disappointed to use his or her time reading this book. For a book that attempts to cover the entirety of Washington's military life, this is one of the best I have read.

Indispensable Biography of America's Indispensable Man
This is a masterful and engaging account of how an untrained impetuous youth turned his ambition for military glory into a life-long quest for the public good - and in the process became one of the greatest military heroes of world history. Based extensively on primary sources - especially Washington's own correspondence, two-thirds of which cover the period of the Revolutionary War - this factual and well-written book tells the dramatic story of how Washington, despite his weaknesses and mistakes and losses of battles, organized from volunteers and conscripts a professional army that wrestled victory away from the most powerful and experienced army in the world. Even the title itself is revealing - A Military Life - for both Washington and his contemporaries considered Washington primarily as a military commander, despite his political and other services to his country. Must reading not only for military enthusiasts but for anyone interested Washington or the history of America.