The “compelling…modern and readable perpective” (USA TODAY) of Robert E. Lee, the brilliant soldier bound by marriage to George Washington’s family but turned by war against Washington’s crowning achievement, the Union.
On the eve of the Civil War, one soldier embodied the legacy of George Washington and the hopes of leaders across a divided land. Both North and South knew Robert E. Lee as the son of Washington’s most famous eulogist and the son-in-law of Washington’s adopted child. Each side sought his service for high command. Lee could choose only one.
In The Man Who Would Not Be Washington, former White House speechwriter Jonathan Horn reveals how the officer most associated with Washington went to war against the union that Washington had forged. This extensively researched and gracefully written biography follows Lee through married life, military glory, and misfortune. The story that emerges is more complicated, more tragic, and more illuminating than the familiar tale. More complicated because the unresolved question of slavery—the driver of disunion—was among the personal legacies that Lee inherited from Washington. More tragic because the Civil War destroyed the people and places connecting Lee to Washington in agonizing and astonishing ways. More illuminating because the battle for Washington’s legacy shaped the nation that America is today. As Washington was the man who would not be king, Lee was the man who would not be Washington. The choice was Lee’s. The story is America’s.
A must-read for those passionate about history, The Man Who Would Not Be Washington introduces Jonathan Horn as a masterly voice in the field.
Jonathan Horn is an author and former White House presidential speechwriter whose Robert E. Lee biography, The Man Who Would Not Be Washington, was a Washington Post bestseller. Jonathan has appeared on CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, and PBS NewsHour, and his writing has appeared in The Washington Post, The New York Times’ Disunion series, Politico Magazine, The Daily Beast, The Weekly Standard, and other outlets. A graduate of Yale University, he lives in Bethesda, Maryland, with his wife, daughter, and dog. His latest book is Washington’s End.
The Man Who Would Not be Washington: Robert E. Lee's Civil War and His Decision that Changed American History 5 out of 5based on
0 ratings.
2 reviews.
David Trop
More than 1 year ago
An excellent read on this most dignified and honorable man he became the general of the south reluctantly due to his loyalty to his home state suffered much at the hands of the Union but through it all remained a man of honor and dignity. The author takes you to that time and place to visit with this military Legend
In the spring of 1861, Ambrose Bierce, just shy of nineteen, became Private Bierce of
the Ninth Indiana Volunteer Infantry. For the next four years, Bierce marched and fought throughout the western theater of the Civil War. Because of his ...
These upper-grade-level American History books include extensive multiple-choice questions on a more challenging level, as
well as a wide variety of questions for further research that provide composition practice and enhance critical-thinking skills. They are designed to test and reinforce ...
This magisterial work chronicles the 350-year history of the Jewish religion in America. Tracing American
Judaism from its origins in the colonial era through the present day, Jonathan Sarna explores the ways in which Judaism adapted in this new context. ...
Change Me into Zeus's Daughter is a haunting and ultimately triumphant memoir about growing up
poor and undaunted in the South. With an unflinching voice, Barbara Robinette Moss chronicles her family's chaotic, impoverished survival in the red-clay hills of Alabama. ...
Now in paperback with a bonus new chapter, the New York Times bestseller by Gabrielle
Giffords and her husband, astronaut Mark Kelly—an incredibly inspiring story of adventure, service, love, and overcoming tragedy. Gabrielle Giffords and Mark Kelly’s story is a ...
Current models of acculturation in multicultural counseling literature are severely limited in describing how individuals
deal with the complexity of culture change. The reasons for immigration, the historical period during which the immigration occurred, educational and socioeconomic levels, ethnic community ...
Life Is a Wheel chronicles the cross-country bicycle trip Bruce Weber made at the age
of fifty-seven, an “entertaining travel story filled with insightful thoughts about life, family, and aging” (The Associated Press).During the summer and fall of 2011, Bruce ...
From Colm Tóibín, the formidable award-winning author of The Master and Brooklyn, an illuminating, intimate
study of Irish culture, history, and literature told through the lives and work of three men—William Wilde, John Butler Yeats, and John Stanislaus Joyce—and the ...
