Washington
In this work, the author, a biographer provides a portrait of the father of our nation, dashing forever the stereotype of a stolid, unemotional man, and revealing an astute and surprising portrait of a canny political genius who knew how to inspire people.
Stats for nerds
5recommend
10mentions
9people
2011–2022years
60% recommend30% neutral10% critical
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- Top 2 so far:
The Washington book is a very detailed by clear overview of his life. Easy to follow (even for complex situations) and very week written.* Washington: A life by Ron Chernow * The Second World Wars: How the First Global Conflict Was Fought and Won by Victor Davis HansonThe WW2 book is amazing. Compares the countries fighting in around 20 different areas (technology, leadership, geography, aircraft) and says who is better and why.
Also very good:
* FDR by Jean Edward Smith * Master of the Senate by Robert A. Caro * The Penguin History of New Zealand by Michael King * The years of Lyndon Johnson 2 – Means of Ascent by Robert Caro * Blood, Sweat & Chrome: The Wild and True Story of Mad Max: Fury Road by Kyle Buchanan * Becoming Trader Joe: How I Did Business My Way and Still Beat the Big Guys by Joe Coulombe * How Innovation Works: And Why It Flourishes in Freedom by Matt Ridley * Yeager: An Autobiography by Chuck Yeager * The years of Lyndon Johnson: The Path to Power by Robert Caro * The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson * Termination Shock by Neal Stephenson * An Economist walks into a Brothel: And Other Unexpected Places to Understand Risk by Allison Schrager * The Devil’s Candy: The Bonfire of the Vanities Goes to Hollywood by Julie Salamon * Sam Walton: Made in America by Sam Walton - It‘s not a book, but Bret Deveraux‘ history blog is so comprehensive I‘ve probably read several books‘ worth of pages on it: https://acoup.blog/ Also, it pointed me to a number of the „real“ books I read this year.
Aside from that, the book that I enjoyed the most was probably Chernow‘s „Washington“.
- Started with Doris Kearns Goodwin's "Leadership", which is a 4-in-1 biography of Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, FDR, and LBJ. I cannot recommend it highly enough! (Here's my more detailed write-up: https://terranostra.one/posts/Review-Lessons-from-the-Presid...)
Then went on to Ron Chernow's "Washington" (another great book), and am currently on Jean Edward Smith's "FDR".
If you're interested in presidential biographies, have a look at this guy's page: https://bestpresidentialbios.com/
- John Lee is one of my favorite narrators and his reading of the Count of Monte Cristo is wonderful (even at 47 hours).
Ron Chernow’s biographies of Grant, Hamilton, and Washington.
Candice Millard‘s “Hero’s of the Empire” (about Winston Churchill) and “River of Doubt” (Theodore Roosevelt) are both interesting looks at important historical figures in situations we don’t often prescribe to them. Her first book “Destiny of the Republic” (James Garfield) is also good but the other two are superior.
“David and Goliath” by Malcolm Gladwell.
- > Washington: A life, by Ron Chernow
Most programs in America, most paintings and all that is apocryphal about Washington always paints him as a humorless, rigid, God-like character. Chernow does a wonderful job of going through the recently released letters of Washington and painting a portrait of a family man, husband, and a man in occasional worry. Love it.
- Some good points, but the parts about the British Empire are off. I'd strongly recommend "Heaven's Command: An Imperial Progress" by Jan Morris for a piece that looks at all the good and bad that the British Empire did under Victoria.
To make a long story really short, the British did ridiculous amounts of good in their colonies.
For instance, eliminating the Thugee strangling cult:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thuggee#The_practice
They also ended a lot of cannibalism, human sacrifices, completely ended the worldwide slave trade, eliminated piracy, brought rule of law, built infrastructure, brought science and the scientific method, eliminated cults, ended rituals of widows burning themselves on their husband's funeral pyre, eliminated kidnap/rape/murder cycles in many of their possessions, brought sanitation and education, and... just tons of good. Overwhelming amounts of good.
The Empire was lost largely out of a sense of guilt and an unwillingness to take the actions that would have preserved it - pretty much any individual uprising could have been crushed if they'd decided to (including the American Revolution - see Ron Chernow's "Washington - A Life" for just how easy it would been for the British to end the whole thing at Boston, New York, or Valley Forge at various times).
