George Washington: A Life in Books

by Kevin J. Hayes

Overview

When it comes to the Founding Fathers, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and Alexander Hamilton are generally considered the great minds of early America. George Washington, instead, is toasted with accolades regarding his solid common sense and strength in battle. Indeed, John Adams once snobbishly dismissed him as "too illiterate, unlearned, unread for his station and reputation." Yet Adams, as well as the majority of the men who knew Washington in his life, were unaware of his singular devotion to self-improvement.

Based on a comprehensive amount of research at the Library of Congress, the collections at Mount Vernon, and rare book archives scattered across the country, Kevin J. Hayes corrects this misconception and reconstructs in vivid detail the active intellectual life that has gone largely unnoticed in conventional narratives of Washington. Despite being a lifelong reader, Washington felt an acute sense of embarrassment about his relative lack of formal education and cultural sophistication, and in this sparkling literary biography, Hayes illustrates just how tirelessly Washington worked to improve. Beginning with the primers, forgotten periodicals, conduct books, and classic eighteenth-century novels such as Tom Jones that shaped Washington's early life, Hayes studies Washington's letters and journals, charting the many ways the books of his upbringing affected decisions before and during the Revolutionary War. The final section of the book covers the voluminous reading that occurred during Washington's presidency and his retirement at Mount Vernon. Throughout, Hayes examines Washington's writing as well as his reading, from The Journal of Major George Washington through his Farewell Address. The sheer breadth of titles under review here allow readers to glimpse Washington's views on foreign policy, economics, the law, art, slavery, marriage, and religion-and how those views shaped the young nation..

Ultimately, this sharply written biography offers a fresh perspective on America's Father, uncovering the ideas that shaped his intellectual journey and, subsequently, the development of America.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780190936129
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	02/01/2020
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	408
Product dimensions:	5.80(w) x 8.80(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Kevin J. Hayes, Emeritus Professor at the University of Central Oklahoma, lives and writes in Toledo, Ohio. He is the author of several books including The Road to Monticello: The Life and Mind of Thomas Jefferson (OUP, 2008) and A Journey through American Literature (OUP, 2012).

Table of Contents

Preface
Acknowledgments
1. Meditations and Contemplations
2. Every Boy His Own Teacher
3. Exemplars
4. Travel Writing
5. The Journal of Major George Washington
6. A Memorial Containing a Summary View of Facts
7. Home and Garden
8. George Washington, Bibliographer
9. The Education of John Parke Custis
10. Revolutionary Pamphlets
11. Common Sense and Independence
12. A Green Baize Bookcase
13. Planning for Retirement
14. Haven of History
15. The Slave, the Quaker, and the Panopticon
16. Politics and the Picaresque
17. Presidential Patronage and the Development of American Literature
18. Official Letters to the Honorable American Congress
19. Farewell Address
20. Home at Last
Notes
Sources
Index

Editorial Reviews

Winner of the George Washington Book Prize

"In this new work, Kevin J. Hayes shatters the myth of an ignorant, unread Washington and does something even more difficult: Hayes not only has tracked down new discoveries in one of the most studied American lives, but he reveals a much more human portrait of the great man than most biographies have been able to reveal. Hayes makes George Washington even more real, and more significant....Kevin J. Hayes's study will reward the reader with a newfound respect for our first president and imparts a renewed sense of the sustained curiosity of truly great leaders. It is a book even John Adams might have enjoyed." — Douglas R. Bradburn, The Weekly Standard

"This is a highly enjoyable and informative book. For anyone interested in the primary documentation of the lives of the Founding Fathers or for anyone wishing to be an informed visitor to Mount Vernon, this is essential reading." — Titus Belgard, Journal of the American Revolution

From the Publisher

04/15/2017
In this new literary biography, Hayes (English, Univ. of Central Oklahoma; The Road to Monticello) focuses on the books in President George Washington's (1732–99) library. Rather than concentrate solely on Washington's life and accomplishments, Hayes uses his subject's library to contextualize the leader's thoughts and actions. He argues that these volumes reveal Washington's predilection for self-improvement and identify an active intellectual life on par with Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and Alexander Hamilton. This work gives unprecedented access to Washington's mind through the conduct books, sermons, primers, novels, and other materials on his bookshelf. Particularly noteworthy is Hayes's examination of the president's own writing in conjunction with his reading habits, allowing readers to see the intellectual growth firsthand. Though the text often infers connections instead of directly stating them, Hayes nonetheless writes a useful and necessary analysis of reading in early America. Trish Laughran's The Republic in Print provides more context on the importance of print culture in early America and is a good companion read. VERDICT Best for scholars of early American literature and print culture.—Jessica Holland, Univ. of Kentucky, Lexington

Library Journal

2017-03-07
A new biography of our first president as viewed through the contents of his library.If any of the Founding Fathers could not be said to have lived "a life in books," it was George Washington (1732-1799), a thoroughly pragmatic man of action. Washington's library was tiny compared to those of scholar-statesmen like Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin and emphasized practical knowledge rather than political or social philosophy. Most of the evidence that he actually read the books he owned comes from typographical corrections in his own hand. Marginalia relating to content is extremely rare, and Hayes (Emeritus, English/Univ. of Central Oklahoma; A Journey Through American Literature, 2012, etc.) cites few references in Washington's voluminous correspondence to concepts gleaned from his reading. The author offers much supposition about what Washington may have read and how it might have influenced him, but he marshals discouragingly few facts on the point. As a result, this attempt to illuminate Washington through his reading appears doomed from the start. Nevertheless, Hayes gives it his all, surveying a wide array of books and pamphlets in any way connected to Washington, down to textbooks ordered for his stepson and a treatise on cement. In the process, he displays a winning enthusiasm for these now-obscure 18th-century works. He examines not just their content, but also details about their publishing histories, the craftsmanship of their bindings, and how they were filed on the shelves at Mount Vernon. While much of this amounts to a scholarly accumulation of data that conveys little information about the books' owner, in the process a picture gradually emerges of the literary environment of an average wealthy Virginia planter, primarily interested in improving his plantation and in military matters, with little time for fiction or rarified intellectual pursuits. More effective as a portrait of the interests of the Colonial planter class than of Washington personally.

Kirkus Reviews