Dispelling common myths about the first US president and revealing
the real George Washington. George Washington-hero of the French
and Indian War, commander in chief of the Continental Army, and
first president of the United States-died on December 14, 1799. The
myth-making began immediately thereafter, and the Washington mythos
crafted after his death remains largely intact. But what do we
really know about Washington as an upper-class man? Washington is
frequently portrayed by his biographers as America at its
unflinching best: tall, shrewd, determined, resilient, stalwart,
and tremendously effective in action. But this aggressive and
muscular version of Washington is largely a creation of the
nineteenth century. Eighteenth-century ideals of upper-class
masculinity would have preferred a man with refined aesthetic
tastes, graceful and elegant movements, and the ability and
willingness to clearly articulate his emotions. At the same time,
these eighteenth-century men subjected themselves to intense
hardship and inflicted incredible amounts of violence on each
other, their families, their neighbors, and the people they
enslaved. In First Among Men: George Washington and the Myth of
American Masculinity, Valsania considers Washington's complexity
and apparent contradictions in three main areas: his physical life
(often bloody, cold, injured, muddy, or otherwise unpleasant), his
emotional world (sentimental, loving, and affectionate), and his
social persona (carefully constructed and maintained). In each, he
notes, the reality diverges from the legend quite drastically.
Ultimately, Valsania challenges readers to reconsider what they
think they know about Washington. Aided by new research, documents,
and objects that have only recently come to light, First Among Men
tells the fascinating story of a living and breathing person who
loved, suffered, moved, gestured, dressed, ate, drank, and had sex
in ways that may be surprising to many Americans. In this
accessible, detailed narrative, Valsania presents a full, complete
portrait of Washington as readers have rarely seen him before: as a
man, a son, a father, and a friend.
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