Book Review- George Washington by Paul Johnson

Part of the Eminent Lives series by Harper Collins, this work by Paul Johnson on the life of George Washington is quite concise, 123 pages in total. In a biographical volume this short, the reader gets only small snapshots of what the subject was really like.

The portrait that Johnson paints of Washington is one of an aggressive landowner who was often consumed by self-seeking interests. Washington's personal vanity is referenced throughout the book as well. While I do not mean to imply that the author is overly negative or anti-Washington is his writing, Johnson certainly does not present the first President of the United States as the almost faultless figure that other Washington biographers have.

Often when reading a short presidential biography such as this one, I am prompted to want to learn more about the national leader who is being chronicled. That is not the case this time however.