George Washington Bookshelf

Introducing a New Series

George Washington Bookshelf

Celebrating the Life
and Leadership
of George Washington

In 1999, the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association inaugurated the Bookshelf series in commemoration of the bicentennial of George Washington’s death. Each volume in the ongoing collection will provide a concise overview of a specific Washingtonian topic, offering a wealth of valuable information on such areas as the soldier-statesman’s domestic life, political and social interests, and service to the new nation.

Martha Washington:
A Brief Biography

by Ellen McAllister Clark

61 pages • 6 1/8 x 9 1/4

12 illustrations

Paper ISBN 0-931917-39-5 • $9.95

In many ways Martha Dandridge Custis Washington represented the ideal woman of the new American republic. She was not born of the aristocracy, but she gained the admiration and respect of all classes of people. She was devoted to her family and home, but she readily made personal sacrifices to join her husband in his public duties. During the Revolution, which she referred to as “our cause,” she gave up the comforts of Mount Vernon to travel every year to General Washington’s winter quarters, and during his presidential administration she was called both dignified and democratic as she forged the role of the president’s wife that would be followed for generations to come. She neither sought nor relished her public positions, yet by all accounts she carried out the duties thrust upon her with enormous consideration and care. A line from an Alexandria newspaper’s obituary for Martha Washington aptly summarizes the essential role she played: “She was the worthy partner of the worthiest of men.”

Slavery at the Home of
George Washington

Edited by Philip J. Schwarz

182 pages • 6 1/8 x 9 1/4

52 illustrations

Paper ISBN 0-931917-38-7 • $13.95

George Washington inherited his first slave at the age of eleven, and he was the only founding father to free his slaves in his will. This highly readable selection of articles focuses on Washington’s changing attitudes toward the institution of slavery and his everyday relationships with the slaves who shared his Mount Vernon estate. Along with his insightful introduction, editor Philip J. Schwarz has included James C. Rees’s essay “Looking Back, Moving Forward: The Changing Interpretation of Slave Life on the Mount Vernon Estate,” Dennis J. Pogue’s essay “Slave Lifeways at Mount Vernon: An Archaeological Perspective,” and Lorena S. Walsh’s essay “Slavery and Agriculture at Mount Vernon,” as well as essays by Jean B. Lee, Mary V. Thompson, and Edna Greene Medford.

George Washington:
Pioneer Farmer

by Alan and Donna Jean Fusonie

Foreword by Nancy Kassebaum Baker

66 pages • 6 1/8 x 9 1/4

14 illustrations

Paper ISBN 0-931917-28-X • $9.95

This volume provides a fresh historical focus on George Washington as a pioneer farmer actively engaged in a new approach to agriculture: one based on a more scientific attitude toward crops, farm animals, and the land. As Alan and Donna Jean Fusonie examined his correspondence and diaries, the emerging profile of Washington was of a tireless experimenter eager to share his results with visitors and with farmers in other parts of the country and abroad. In his correspondence Washington used the power of his pen to convey important agricultural thoughts. He increasingly expressed his concern about the ruinous agricultural practices of many of his fellow farmers. Washington’s complex shift to a more self-reliant and integrated system of agriculture proved him to be an informed, forward-thinking decision maker who focused on the long-term productivity and conservation of his land at Mount Vernon. The authors, also practicing farmers, are intrigued by the similarity between Washington’s outlook and that of an increasing number of today’s farmers who use more sustainable approaches.

The Death of George Washington:
He Died as He Lived

by Peter R. Henriques

Foreword by Philander D. Chase

86 pages • 6 1/8 x 9 1/4

7 illustrations

Paper ISBN 0-931917-35-2 • $9.95

Throughout his life George Washington demonstrated a capacity to face danger with determination and to suffer hardship with dignity. At no time were these qualities more evident than in his final struggle on December 14, 1799. On that morning, at home on his Mount Vernon estate, George Washington was mortally stricken with a frightening illness. Although he would perish before the day was out, Washington demonstrated great physical courage throughout what quickly became a brutal struggle. In this final battle Washington secured his most personal victory and enduring legacy. George Washington died as he lived, the model of a virtuous life courageously lived.

In this engaging narrative Peter Henriques distills years of scholarly and medical research, bringing the final hours of George Washington into dramatic focus. His work lends new insight into the great man’s attitudes toward life and death, and in so doing, reveals the true nature and quality of Washington as a national hero.

The Presidency of
George Washington

by Jack D. Warren Jr.

Foreword by George H. W. Bush

112 pages • 6 1/8 x 9 1/4

8 color and 7 b&w illustrations

Paper ISBN 0-931917-334-4 • $10.95

In the first specialized study of the Washington presidency published in a generation, the historian Jack D. Warren Jr. outlines the first president’s practical accomplishments: the establishment of the executive as an energetic and effective branch of government; the resolution of the new nation’s financial crisis; the opening of the trans-Appalachian West; the creation of Washington, D.C.; and the preservation of peace with the warring powers of Europe. In a time of intense partisanship, Warren explains, Washington worked constantly to strengthen the Union, gave his office a character that transcends politics, and set a standard of conduct for national leaders that has endured for more than two centuries. Washington shaped the powers of the presidency, former president George H. W. Bush says in his foreword, “yet never wavered from his promise to remain a servant of the people.”

George Washington:
First in War

by Dave R. Palmer

76 pages • 6 1/8 x 9 1/4

17 color and 7 b&w illustrations

Paper ISBN 0-931917-33-6 • $9.95

George Washington’s long career as soldier began with defeat as a young line officer in the bloody frontier skirmishes of the French and Indian War; it culminated in the role of commanding general of the Continental army in victory over the British army. This soldier’s life included long years of Spartan campaigning, the creation of a professional army, the honing of innovative tactics and strategies, and the development of crucial international military alliances.

In this history of George Washington’s career as an army officer, Dave Palmer reveals the many qualities of character that made Washington an extraordinary military commander, qualities that allowed him not only to lead a fledgling army to secure the independence of his newly formed country but to define the role of the military in a free and democratic society.