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His Excellency
George Washington
by Joseph J. Ellis
The author of seven acclaimed books, Joseph J. Ellis, drawing from the newly catalogued Washington papers at the University of Virginia, has crafted a biography that brings to life in all his complexity the most important and perhaps least understood figure in American history, George Washington. [Knopf]
Alfred A. Knopf, 352 pages
10/26/2004
$26.95
ISBN: 1400040310
Nonfiction
Biographies & Memoirs
All reviews are classified as one of five grades: Outstanding (4 points), Favorable (3), Mixed (2), Unfavorable (1) and Terrible (0). To calculate the Metascore, we divide total points achieved by the total points possible (i.e., 4 x the number of reviews), with the resulting percentage (multiplied by 100) being the Metascore. Learn more...
Booklist Brad Hooper
The author is unafraid to see Washington anew, without trappings and free of idolatry. [15 Sept 2004, p.178]
Chicago Tribune Douglas Brinkley
But his real accomplishment, in my opinion, the reason that Ellis is one of the four or five great popular historians writing today, is that he is largely accurate and never dull.
Christian Science Monitor Terry W. Hartle
A short but absolutely fascinating biography of Washington that explores the character of this legendary figure.
Los Angeles Times Nicholas Meyer
Ellis writes simply but eloquently. His prose is lucid, graceful and witty, his book hard to put down. He asks the questions the general reader might pose, and his well-researched and informed speculations, especially regarding his subject's psychological inner life, are answered persuasively.
New York Observer Ted Widmer
Mr. Ellis has successfully avoided the myth, the "smothering blanket of lullabies" that he calls "more wooden than his alleged teeth." In its place, he has built something far more human and approachable.
Publishers Weekly
Ellis's richer version leaves readers with a deeper sense of the man's humanity.
The New Republic Gordon S. Wood
Readers who are familiar with the vast array of writings about Washington will not find much that is new or original in Ellis's book. But they will find his usual engaging style of writing. He has a wonderful knack for summing a mass of complicated material in a few pithy sentences.
The New York Times Michiko Kakutani
Unlike Mr. Ellis's book on Adams, which did much to resurrect that founding father's reputation, this volume does not break much new ground, but it nonetheless provides a lucid, often shrewd take on the man Mr. Ellis calls the ''primus inter pares, the Foundingest Father of them all.'' And it does so with admirable grace and wit.
USA Today Jacqueline Blais
Using a subtle touch and great writing, Ellis presents an admiring but believable portrait of Washington in His Excellency.
New York Review Of Books Garry Wills
Ellis is very good on Washington's attitude toward slavery. While not discounting the moral obligation Washington assumed in freeing his own slaves at Martha's death, he sees how considerations of financial independence played a great part in this as in all aspects of his life.
The Spectator Harry Mount
[Ellis] lays out fact after fact, rarely adding his own comment, but letting the accumulation of facts build up this convincing picture of a great, flawed man.
Daily Telegraph Paul Johnson
Short and admirable.
The Economist
Through the thicket of scholarship on America's first commander-in-chief, here emerges a compelling portrait of a leader with innards of steel behind the famous reserve.
Washington Post Jonathan Yardley
Ellis's aim is to get beyond the monument into the man, and he does so in a convincing, plausible way.
Kirkus Reviews
Well done, too, though admirers of Washington may find in it more -- or less -- than they bargained for.
Library Journal Robert Flatley
This well-researched and -written book is flesh but not revisionist and will appeal to both lay readers and scholars. [Aug 2004, p.90]
The New York Times Book Review Forrest McDonald
Unfortunately, despite the overall quality of Ellis's book, ''His Excellency'' is marred by numerous trivial errors of fact... Notwithstanding such shortcomings, this is an enjoyable book. Yet, finally, it is not the best one-volume treatment of Washington. That distinction belongs to Richard Brookhiser's "Founding Father."
The New Yorker
Ellis is particularly good on the years after the War of Independence, when Washington, in semi-retirement, was absorbed by what he called "the peculiar circumstances of my case"--his heroic legacy.
Slate Jack Rakove
There is no way that insights of this kind into character and personality can ever be proven or disproven. But at a moment when the nature of political leadership in our constitutional republic is itself so controverted, His Excellency offers room for meditation.
Boston Globe David Hackett Fischer
This is an important and challenging work: beautifully written, lively, serious, and engaging, if not entirely convincing to this reader.
Entertainment Weekly Jeff Labrecque
Ellis slips up when speculating about Washington's marriage, dismissing scurrilous historical rumors (ahem, ''George Washington slept here'') without providing specific evidence. But overall, His Excellency provides a fascinating study of the man and his times.
London Review Of Books Nicholas Guyatt
The problem with His Excellency George Washington, as with many books on the founders, is its tendency to assume an essential moral unity in American history. In Ellis’s book, this is achieved by imagining Washington as a closet abolitionist, even a Lincoln-in-waiting, who championed federal power but believed that slavery could only be abolished when the time was right.
 The average user rating for this book is 5.0 (out of 10) based on 5 User Votes
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