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Inventing George Washington: America's Founder, in Myth and Memory Hardcover – January 18, 2011

by Edward G. Lengel (Author)

3.9 59 ratings

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“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....Outstanding.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review) on The Glorious Struggle

Editor-in-Chief of the Washington Papers Project Edward G. Lengel delivers an entertaining and erudite history of America's Founding Father. In Inventing George Washington, a captivating counterpart to Lengel’s General George Washington: A Military Life, the historian looks at Washington’s life and writings, at the creation of his mythos, and at what his legacy means for our nation and ourselves.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Lengel, editor in chief of the Washington Papers project and author of General George Washington: A Military Life, contributes a worthy addition to the plentiful scholarship of George Washington, if for no other reason than his naysayer approach to that very scholarship; Lengel wants to set the record straight, and he takes on the "cheats and phonies in addition to the well-meaning storytellers who have capitalized on the American public's insatiable and ever-changing demand for information about" Washington. It's time to forget the cherry tree mythologies of our schoolbooks. Besides dismissing that tale (and the tellers who perpetrated it) outright, Lengel explores the surprisingly seedy underbelly of Washington biographers. For instance, one of the men who hopped on the George Washington myth-making bandwagon was no less than showman P.T. Barnum. Lengel's account of Barnum acquiring (for $1000) and then parading elderly African-American Joice Heth around the East Coast as "the 161-year-old slave mammy" to George Washington is equally disturbing and gripping; put on display 14 hours a day for a paying public, Heth soon died, and Barnum held a public autopsy-charging 50 cents a head. Lengel's end-of-book rant, when he tries to settle a score with filmmakers making a project for the Washington estate is a rare misstep in an otherwise fascinating, dryly humorous book.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Lengel’s survey of falsehoods told or believed about George Washington inspects biographies, manuscripts, paintings, and films that skirt verisimilitude in the quest for popularity. Hardly humorless rebukes to mythmaking panderers to the hoi polloi, Lengel’s wry critiques of specific works connect stories and facts of dubious provenance with a generation’s propensity to believe them. His attentiveness to evolving markets for information about Washington readily explains why Parson Weems’ cherry-tree story became a phenomenally popular tutorial in Washington’s virtues, how mid-nineteenth-century confections about young George’s romances answered to the feminine book-buying demographic, that a forger’s productions from the same period still deceive unwary manuscript dealers, and how yearning for a Christian Washington inspired fabrications of his religious life that contemporary public figures still cite. The persistence of fabrications despite twentieth-century debunking still infects even careful biographies, such as, Lengel admits, his own General George Washington (2005). As the latest life, Ron Chernow’s Washington (2010), undergoes myth-searching scrutiny, its likely success paves the way for Lengel’s entertaining commiseration with posterity’s imagined George Washington. --Gilbert Taylor

From the Back Cover

An entertaining and erudite history that offers a fresh look at America's first founding father, the creation of his legend, and what it means for our nation and ourselves

George Washington's death on December 14, 1799, dealt a dreadful blow to public morale. For three decades, Americans had depended on his leadership to guide them through every trial. At the cusp of a new century, the fledgling nation, caught in another war (this time with its former ally France), desperately needed to believe that Washington was—and would continue to be—there for them.

Thus began the extraordinary immortalization of this towering historical figure. In Inventing George Washington, historian Edward G. Lengel shows how the late president and war hero continued to serve his nation on two distinct levels. The public Washington evolved into an eternal symbol as Father of His Country, while the private man remained at the periphery of the national vision—always just out of reach—for successive generations yearning to know him as never before.

Both images, public and private, were vital to perceptions Americans had of their nation and themselves. Yet over time, as Lengel shows, the contrasting and simultaneous urges to deify Washington and to understand him as a man have produced tensions that have played out in every generation. As some exalted him, others sought to bring him down to earth, creating a series of competing mythologies that depicted Washington as every sort of human being imaginable. Inventing George Washington explores these representations, shedding new light on this national emblem, our nation itself, and who we are.

About the Author

Edward G. LengeL is editor in chief of the Papers of George Washington and a professor at the University of Virginia. He is the author of several books, including General George Washington and This Glorious Struggle. A lecturer on Washington and the Revolutionary War, Lengel is also a historical consultant, advising on such works as the History Channel's own comprehensive documentary. He is a frequent radio and television guest—appearing on C-SPAN, CBS, and NPR, among others—and is a regular contributor to newspapers and magazines in the vein of military history and American heritage. He lives with his family in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Harper; First Edition (January 18, 2011)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 272 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0061662585
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0061662584
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12.8 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.75 x 1 x 8.5 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #2,369,827 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,587 in American Revolution Biographies (Books)
- #3,913 in US Presidents
- #4,787 in U.S. Revolution & Founding History

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3.9 59 ratings

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Edward G. Lengel

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Although I’ve spent most of my career as a professional military historian, my passion is as a storyteller, seeking to unfold history’s human core. By walking through ancient lands, sites and battlefields in my own hiking boots, the contents of manuscripts, letters and other sources come alive for me.

I strive to capture that feeling in my writing, tours, and presentations to reduce the distance between our present and our collective past. From the tough realities of military history to the passions and interests of our first president, I aim to write history that’s trustworthy, but what I really want to hear, to read, to write are simply cracking good stories.

In addition to writing, I frequently give historical tours and talks.

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Judith Kahler

Inventing George Washington a "Must Read"

Reviewed in the United States on February 8, 2011

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Edward Lengel is one of a very small number of contemporary Washington scholars whose expertise can always be relied upon to "tell it like it is" on matters related to The Father of Our Country. Lengel's most recent offering, "Inventing George Washington," fills in the blanks on how the image of Washington has been exploited through the years since his death to meet the evolving needs of the American political and social culture. The book is written in a lively and entertaining style that holds the reader's interest from cover to cover, and it is filled with information previously unknown about the motivation and objectives of those who have had a hand in re-shaping Washington's image in myth and memory. This book has much to offer Washington scholars as well as those who are less familiar with the real story of our first president.

2 people found this helpful

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CeeCee Jones

Very interesting, very academic

Reviewed in the United States on October 16, 2017

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The book dispelled my myths and brought Washington back to a real human, full of all the doubt, loves and emotions of every human instead of the lofty demigod he had become to many of us. It is a very academic read, well written and very well researched. You can feel the admiration the author has for the first president.

Reviewed in the United States on April 15, 2015

Verified Purchase

It has been a few years since I read this book on my kindle but I will love to add to the many great reviews that this book recieved because it deserves it. The book is well written and well researched. The story that still sticks in my brain is protrayed on the books front cover. The whole story about the cherry tree myth is thoughly explained in detail including the background of its inventor. This is something that you have to check out.

5 people found this helpful

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T. Goebel

An enjoyable ride

Reviewed in the United States on February 25, 2019

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This is a quick read nut because it is light on content. Quite the opposite is true, actually. If you are a history buff with a curiosity about the Founders as men, rather than mythical creatures, do yourself a favor and read this book.

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Christian Schlect

The Indispensible Man

Reviewed in the United States on February 12, 2011

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A short overview of the persistent myth-making industry that has as its subject George Washington.

Edward G. Lengel, an expert on Washington, has written a good book for those who want to know more about how history is sometimes distorted by biased writers, politicians, religious leaders, and others with their own motives. Motives that usually put them at variance from a steady focus on the truth. And, of course, there are the ever-present hucksters and civic boosters (Washington slept here!) simply wanting to make a quick buck off a famous name.

3 people found this helpful

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Emily V Altermann

An excellant read!

Reviewed in the United States on July 11, 2011

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Saw the author review this book on tv, ordered it right away was not disappointed!

Since I am a history buff, there are so many intereting facts about George Washington that I did not know before.

Have already passed this book on to a friend of mine who is a history Prof in College.

2 people found this helpful

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Dave Barnes

Very dry

Reviewed in the United States on July 13, 2013

Verified Purchase

I learned a lot about GW, but this is a very dry book.
The author should have hired a ghost writer to add some excitement to it.
By excitement, I mean moving the writing from 8/10 on the boredom scale down to 6/10.

2 people found this helpful

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Charlotte Pryor

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United States on September 28, 2015

Verified Purchase

Book came in great condition.

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