Washington: A Legacy of Leadership by Paul Vickery

Back in September I posted a review of a book about General Robert E. Lee from Thomas Nelson’s The Generals series. This week’s review is another from that series, this time covering the life of George Washington.

The idea behind The Generals series is to paint a brief picture of the personal lives of these prominent men in history. While a relatively short biography (223 pages in this case) cannot begin to truly do justice to a man such as George Washington, it can serve to provide a decent overview while whetting the appetite for more information.

Washington: A Legacy of Leadership deals very briefly with Washington’s early life before launching into a rather academic retelling of his military pursuits in the French and Indian War. Most of the remainder of the book deals with Washington’s involvement in the events that led to the Revolutionary War and in the war itself. The book ends with a chapter on Washington’s presidency, and then wraps up with a few words related to his long-lasting legacy.

As a biography, Washington: A Legacy of Leadership is rather weak. As mentioned previously, his personal life is only lightly explored, and very little is mentioned of his marriage or interactions with his wife and children. While Washington’s character is explored in relation to his military decision-making processes and interactions, very little of his personality is explored to serve as a background to his military character. Having read several other biographies of George Washington, I know there is much more to the personal life of this great man than was even eluded to in Washington.

I believe this book would be better classified as an overview of the French and Indian and Revolutionary Wars with an emphasis on George Washington’s contribution than as a biography. From that perspective, Washington is a good resource. Were I recommending a good biography, however, this book would not make the list.

This book was sent to me by Book Sneeze in exchange for my honest review. A favorable review was not required.