Young Washington: How Wilderness and War Forged America's Founding Father

by Peter Stark Narrated by Malcolm Hillgartner

Overview

A vivid and groundbreaking portrait of a young, struggling George Washington that casts a new light on his character and the history of American independence, from the bestselling author of Astoria

Two decades before he led America to independence, George Washington was a flailing young soldier serving the British Empire in the vast wilderness of the Ohio Valley. Naive and self-absorbed, the twenty-two-year-old officer accidentally ignited the French and Indian War-a conflict that opened colonists to the possibility of an American Revolution.

With powerful narrative drive and vivid writing, Young Washington*recounts the wilderness trials, controversial battles, and emotional entanglements that transformed Washington from a temperamental striver into a mature leader. Enduring terrifying summer storms and subzero winters imparted resilience and self-reliance, helping prepare him for what he would one day face at Valley Forge. Leading the Virginia troops into battle taught him to set aside his own relentless ambitions and stand in solidarity with those who looked to him for leadership. Negotiating military strategy with British and colonial allies honed his diplomatic skills. And thwarted in his obsessive, youthful love for one woman, he grew to cultivate deeper, enduring relationships.***

By weaving together Washington's harrowing wilderness adventures and a broader historical context,*Young Washington*offers new insights into the dramatic years that shaped the man who shaped a nation.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

03/19/2018
Stark (Astoria) puts his background as an adventure writer to good use, bringing thrilling immediacy and literary flair to George Washington’s youthful exploits as a Western surveyor and eventual participant in the French and Indian War. Tracing Washington’s development from ambitious young soldier to disciplined military leader, Stark treats his subject’s life as an opportunity to delve into the customs of colonial society, America’s involvement in global power struggles between the French and English, and complex negotiations between colonists and Native Americans. The young Washington, inexperienced and fueled by an intense desire to make a name for himself, finds himself at the heart of these conflicts: in his eagerness to expand British holdings by evicting the French from the Ohio territory, he makes rash decisions that escalate fighting between France and England, as well as between colonial and British officers. Stark narrates Washington’s move toward greater self-control in three major sections, each of which focuses on a particular episode of the French and Indian War. While Stark did not conduct significant original research and often turns to imaginative speculation about Washington’s thoughts, his novelistic account is sure to entertain readers interested in the backstory of America’s first president. (May)

From the Publisher

Young Washington is supremely entertaining: the pacing superb, the descriptions of conflict and wilderness travails rousing. . . . A worthy addition to the shelf of Washington biographies.” — Wall Street Journal

“Lively, well-researched . . . . A discerning history of pre-Revolutionary America and the man who shaped its future.” — Kirkus Reviews

“Stark puts his background as an adventure writer to good use, bringing thrilling immediacy and literary flair to George Washington’s youthful exploits as a Western surveyor and eventual participant in the French and Indian War.” — Publishers Weekly

“This is colorful history, bringing to life a period in which Washington, despite serious illness, matured and began demonstrating the skills that led to his later military triumphs and his quiet leadership as president.” — Booklist

“Forget the idea of a musty history tome; this is a gripping, cinematic adventure tale that made me envious of not just young George Washington’s exploits, but Peter Stark’s ability to make them so real and immediate.” — Carl Hoffman, author of Savage Harvest

“Stark brings to vivid life a series of critical turning points in the career of a youthful George Washington in search of himself and his role in history. A portrait of greatness in the making.” — Laurence Bergreen, author of Over the Edge of the World: Magellan’s Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe and Columbus: The Four Voyages

“A provocative, inspiring, and disarmingly honest examination of how the character of America’s greatest general and president was forged, tempered, and polished inside the crucible of what defined America during its dark and promising moment of emergence: the wilderness, the land itself.” — Kevin Fedarko, author of The Emerald Mile

“Prodigiously researched, engagingly written, and wonderfully evocative of time and place, this insightful analysis of how the French and Indian War shaped George Washington’s thinking, character, and reputation is first-rate.  Once again, Peter Stark has demonstrated his exceptional scholarly talents.” — LeRoy Ashby, Regents Professor Emeritus of History, Washington State University and author of With Amusement for All

“A thrilling adventure that vaults the reader into the dangerous and volatile frontier world that indelibly shaped Washington’s life and leadership.” — David Preston, Professor of History, The Citadel, and author of Braddock’s Defeat

“Peter Stark has a remarkable ability to combine brilliant storytelling with thoughtful analysis. Young Washington is a wonderful book—as engrossing as it is informative.” — J. William T. Youngs, Professor of History, Eastern Washington University

Laurence Bergreen

Stark brings to vivid life a series of critical turning points in the career of a youthful George Washington in search of himself and his role in history. A portrait of greatness in the making.

LeRoy Ashby

Prodigiously researched, engagingly written, and wonderfully evocative of time and place, this insightful analysis of how the French and Indian War shaped George Washington’s thinking, character, and reputation is first-rate.  Once again, Peter Stark has demonstrated his exceptional scholarly talents.

David Preston

A thrilling adventure that vaults the reader into the dangerous and volatile frontier world that indelibly shaped Washington’s life and leadership.

J. William T. Youngs

Peter Stark has a remarkable ability to combine brilliant storytelling with thoughtful analysis. Young Washington is a wonderful book—as engrossing as it is informative.

Wall Street Journal

Young Washington is supremely entertaining: the pacing superb, the descriptions of conflict and wilderness travails rousing. . . . A worthy addition to the shelf of Washington biographies.

Booklist

This is colorful history, bringing to life a period in which Washington, despite serious illness, matured and began demonstrating the skills that led to his later military triumphs and his quiet leadership as president.

Carl Hoffman

Forget the idea of a musty history tome; this is a gripping, cinematic adventure tale that made me envious of not just young George Washington’s exploits, but Peter Stark’s ability to make them so real and immediate.

Kevin Fedarko

A provocative, inspiring, and disarmingly honest examination of how the character of America’s greatest general and president was forged, tempered, and polished inside the crucible of what defined America during its dark and promising moment of emergence: the wilderness, the land itself.

Wall Street Journal

Young Washington is supremely entertaining: the pacing superb, the descriptions of conflict and wilderness travails rousing. . . . A worthy addition to the shelf of Washington biographies.

Booklist

This is colorful history, bringing to life a period in which Washington, despite serious illness, matured and began demonstrating the skills that led to his later military triumphs and his quiet leadership as president.

Kirkus Reviews

2018-03-19
As a young man, the eminent Founding Father was impetuous, thin-skinned, and prone to anger and paranoia."Perhaps the strongest feature in his character was prudence," Thomas Jefferson remarked about the venerable Washington (1732-1799). Abigail Adams described him as "dignity with ease," and her husband, John Adams, noted his "great self-command." But as Outside correspondent Stark (Astoria: John Jacob Astor and Thomas Jefferson's Lost Pacific Empire: A Story of Wealth, Ambition, and Survival, 2014, etc.) portrays him in his lively, well-researched biography, Washington in his 20s was far different: "ambitious, temperamental, vain," and stubborn. "When thwarted," he was quick to erupt in "explosive anger." Acutely sensitive to any "threat to his honor or pride," his first reaction was to quit. Born into a family that never rose above "the second tier" of Virginia society, Washington coveted status and wealth, looking to military command as a way to gain acceptance by the Colonial elite. His goal—never realized—was to be awarded a commission by the king. Stark follows Washington's career as he rose from part-time junior officer, serving Virginia Gov. Robert Dinwiddie, to colonel, overseeing motley, undisciplined, underfunded soldiers. The author conveys in gritty detail the challenges of 18th-century conflict: an untamed frontier, violent Indians, chigger attacks, torrential rains, lack of food and arms, dysentery, and deserters. Tasked with preventing the French incursion into the Ohio Valley, Washington failed spectacularly; inexperienced in military strategy, he "watched dumbfounded in horror" as Indians who agreed to aid his troops fell murderously upon French soldiers, slicing off their scalps as trophies. The bloody massacre, Stark asserts, led to the protracted French and Indian War. Nevertheless, in 1755, after he bravely aided a wounded British general, Washington earned a reputation as a fearless hero. Just as significant, he came to believe that he was protected by divine forces, "for some greater purpose." Gradually realizing his responsibility to protect vulnerable settlers, he grew in empathy, selflessness, and determination to serve others.A discerning history of pre-Revolutionary America and the man who shaped its future.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940170355112
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	05/01/2018
Edition description:	Unabridged

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