Washington era

Author: Washington Irving
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-09-01
Features: "No one has portrayed the American Founding Fathers so vividly; no one has depicted Washington in retirement as authentically and dynamically as Irving did." — American historian Bancroft, December 6, 1859
"His character judgments are fair, his tone moderate and balanced, almost cautious, and he devotes most of his work to narrating events." — American essayist Charles M. Warner, 1881
"As is almost unnecessary to say, Irving was one of our great literary artists, and his works are worth reading again and again." — American writer Charles Neider, February 1975
Reasons to Read This Book: Irving was a world-renowned American writer. He was the forerunner of a series of writers, including Cooper, Hawthorne, Melville, James, Mark Twain, T.S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, and Hemingway, who were inevitably influenced by the tradition he pioneered. He was an American writer who made a living by writing, an American literary figure who gained fame in Europe, the father of American short stories, and the author of the great work A History of New York from the Beginning with an unmistakably American spirit. His name, George Washington, further underscores his extraordinary connection to the "Father of America." He wrote The Life of Christopher Columbus, The Life of Goldsmith, and The Life of Muhammad, all about heroic figures. He loved heroes and epics, so he chose The Life of Washington as the culmination of his life's work. This was his "final masterpiece," his "last and greatest work."
Recommended for the Following Groups:
- Advocates or critics of American culture
- Scholars or enthusiasts of biography literature
- Scholars or enthusiasts of American literary history
- Scholars or enthusiasts of Western cultural studies
- College and high school students
This book is derived from Washington Irving's renowned biography The Life of Washington. Washington Irving was once called the "Father of American Literature" and held a significant place in the history of American literature. As a child, he met George Washington by chance, and in awe and admiration, he was inspired to write a biography of the "Father of America." At the age of 49, he made up his mind, began writing at 57, and finally started the work at 72, completing this monumental masterpiece after four years of effort. This book is imbued with the author's 76 years of life experience. It is not just a biography of the "Father of America" but also a grand and magnificent "History of the American Founding" and "History of American Success," written in the form of a novel. The fact that the "Father of American Literature" wrote the biography of the "Father of America" speaks for itself.
He was a general, a statesman, and the founder of the United States of America. He was not as creative or intellectually sharp as Jefferson, Hamilton, or Franklin, but he was more important than any of them. Without him, no political movement could succeed, and without him, there would be no United States of America. In the hearts of Americans, he was the "Man of the War," the "Man of the Peace," and the "Man of the People" in the eyes of his compatriots. Many leaders of that era believed that he held a distinguished place among all the heroes in history.