American Patriarch

The Life of George Washington

By: H. W. Brands

Narrated by: Robert Fass

From historian and Pulitzer Prize finalist H. W. Brands comes an inspiring portrait of George Washington that examines his unrivaled leadership in the birth of America.

From his early military career and role among the Virginia gentry, to his leadership during the American Revolution and reluctant return to public service as the first president of the United States, American Patriarch brings to life the man who was called on time and again by his peers to lead.

With a dazzling cast of characters—from the French and Indians on the Ohio frontier; to the Marquis de Lafayette, Benedict Arnold, and Baron von Steuben on the revolutionary battlefield; to Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton locked in conflict during his presidency—American Patriarch casts Washington as the icon of American virtue who wrested America free from British control, gave credibility to the Constitution, and crafted the norms that would steady America as a nation for generations to follow.

Arriving in time for the 250th anniversary of American independence, this is a masterful portrait of Washington as the unrivaled leader of his times.

Critic reviews

“With this masterly volume, Brands has further solidified his standing as one of our nation’s greatest historians. American Patriarch is by turns brilliant and bold. Brands demonstrates compellingly that Washington’s greatness was as visible in the moment as it has been to scholars across the two centuries since. Read today, in a moment of both historical commemoration and national soul-searching, Brands documents just how extraordinary—and essential—George Washington was and remains.”
—Justin Vaughn, founder and director of the Presidential Greatness Project

“In American Patriarch, Brands deftly weaves into his narrative extensive excerpts from diaries, letters, speeches and publications, providing unequaled insight into what Washington saw, heard, read, thought and did during crucial points in his life and the life of the new nation he did more than anyone else to create.”
—George R. Goethals, University of Richmond professor emeritus

"The prolific historian takes on the first among equals of the Founding Fathers. . . . The one biography of Washington to read in this semiquicentennial year."
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)