Revolutionary

Starred review from January 1, 2019
A provocative biography arguing that George Washington's greatest accomplishment was guiding a rare revolution that turned out well for the revolutionaries.Veteran historian O'Connell (Fierce Patriot: The Tangled Lives of William Tecumseh Sherman, 2014, etc.) reminds readers that most subsequent revolutions featured mass murder and ended in tyranny. In the first half of the book, the author travels familiar ground but does it with insight and wit. An unapologetic patrician, Washington yearned to scale Virginia's aristocracy and Britain's military. He succeeded in the first, becoming a leading figure in the French and Indian War and marrying Virginia's richest widow. His failure, despite aggressive lobbying, to receive a royal commission was Britain's first great mistake. A member of Virginia's House of Burgesses, he dutifully supported opposition to Britain's clumsy attempts to tax the colonists. By the time fighting broke out in 1775, everyone knew that Washington wanted to lead the army because he arrived at the Continental Congress in full dress uniform. Modern historians snicker, but it resonated with contemporaries, already impressed by his dignity, modesty, and reputation. He was the unanimous choice. O'Connell points out that Britain had long been crushing rebellions in Ireland and Scotland and saw no reason to change tactics in America. Even discounting patriot propaganda, looting and rape were common, prisoners were treated badly, and commanders known for cruelty were mostly British. Scholars wonder at his deference to the ineffectual Continental Congress. As generalissimo with a loyal cadre, he could have taken charge at any time but never did and expressed outrage when others suggested it. "He fervently believed in his own high-mindedness and was determined to conduct himself accordingly," writes the author. "Nothing compromises morality like a long, violent revolution, and George Washington...remained a bulwark of decency, a remarkable achievement and possibly his greatest contribution to the Glorious Cause."A delightfully convincing case that Washington was history's least ruthless and most successful revolutionary.

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Starred review from March 1, 2019

Neither a thorough biography nor a mere recap of the Revolutionary War, this work is a history of the events and experiences that shaped George Washington's ambitions, ideologies, and character, and fueled his revolutionary zeal. Military historian O'Connell (Fierce Patriot: The Tangled Lives of William Tecumseh Sherman) argues that despite his challenges--military amateur, inexperienced army, inflated ego, elitism, explosive temper, ill-advised decisions--Washington's passion for the Glorious Cause, his restraint, humility, decency, commanding presence, and ability to inspire loyalty made him the embodiment of the revolution. Mindful that revolutions could degenerate into tyranny and chaos, Washington vehemently disallowed atrocities (though there were many beyond his control) and vigilantly shunned displays of corruption or dictatorial tendencies. O'Connell contends that the British were doomed to lose the war because they underestimated the Patriots' fervor but emphasizes that it was solely because of Washington's restraint as the military commander, high moral standards, and fervent commitment to republicanism that the United States avoided disaster during and after the conflict. VERDICT O'Connell debunks myths and explains motives, shortcomings, and misperceptions in this historical saga that will engage both general and academic readers.--Margaret Kappanadze, Elmira Coll. Lib., NY

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June 17, 2019
This idiosyncratic volume from popular historian O’Connell (Fierce Patriot: The Tangled Lives of William Tecumseh Sherman) about Washington’s life before the White House takes some contrarian stances. Writing in a colloquial style (he frequently refers to Washington as GW),O’Connell declares, for example, that “the English armed forces never came close to winning, and never could.” The book follows Washington from his time as a canny young aristocrat eager to climb the ladder of power in the British military, through his turn from a member of the colonial Virginia House of Burgesses to the determinedly honorable leader of the revolutionary forces, to his 1873 “victory tour” after the revolution’s conclusion. In addition to including some hyperbole, this account is often more speculative than rigorous; a typical passage reads, “Washington says nothing in his diary about the brutality he might have observed , but he cannot have missed the paranoia of the place... quite possibly the initial template for his own unease with slavery.” Readers seeking an entertaining yarn will find one, but those who find this kind of loose argumentation anathema will want to pass it up.