'His Excellency': The Human Washington

The New York Times ^ | November 7, 2004 | Forrest McDonald

[VOA]

Don't put money in the pocket of a guy like Ellis. He might be a meticulous historian,
but he's a walking embodiment of "Stolen Valor" in his personal life.

Get the GREAT book on Washington by Flexner:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0316286168/qid=1100391737/sr=2-1/ref=pd_ka_b_2_1/002-4021510-7523204

Note in the reviews the endorsement by Doug McIntyre...one of the few Republicans/conservatives
in Hollywood. After about four years with a great late night show on KABC 790AM
http://www.kabc.com
in Los Angeles, he's just taken the reins of morning drive.

[Californiajones]

Hmm. I'm suspicious of a NYTimes reviewer who calls it the "old fashioned art of biography". Hidden leftie meaning: the writer skews conservative and there are no gay, perverted, anti Christian or racist bombshells in this new book about Washington. Maybe it is a book I should consider!

Biography is a fascinating art -- one that only good and honest writers can even attempt to get right. Look at how the screenwriter of A BEAUTIFUL MIND lied about his subject (the guy was gay and had left his wife for many years until the movie deal came along and they got back together!) -- biographies are important and need to be truthful without leftie slant.

[VOA]

He was born into a minor family in Virginia's plantation gentry

I've only heard this once... Providence had a hand in this.

One of Geo. Washington's male forbearors came to the Americas to make his money
(grandfather?). After piling up enough materials to make a mint, the ancestor
and his goods were on board ship back to England.

The trip barely started, a storm sunk the ship, and the Washington's forbearor survived the
wreck...without means to return to England.
And was stuck in America for good...

I guess He meant it for good.

[Californiajones]

Can you elaborate on Ellis' personal problems?

Agree with you wholeheartedly about Doug McIntyre. HE IS GREAT and his postion on illegal immigration as well as former presidents and pop standards has made my life in LA much more bearable.

[petitfour]

From the review: 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.''

[VOA]

from...
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0882229.html


Joseph Ellis,
historian and Pulitzer Prize–winning writer, admitted in June that he led his students at
Mount Holyoke College to believe that he had served as a paratrooper in Vietnam,
when in reality his three years of service had been spent teaching history at the
U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

He was also accused of embellishing his role in the civil rights and antiwar movements.
He was subsequently suspended from Mount Holyoke for one year without pay and
stripped of his endowed chair. Ellis won the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for history for
Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation. In a statement Ellis said,
“I deeply regret having let stand and later confirming the assumption that I went to
Vietnam. For this and any other distortions about my personal life, I want to apologize
to my family, friends, colleagues, and students.”

[PatrickHenry]

... became an extremely wealthy planter (after marrying a rich widow) ...

Not entirely accurate, but I can't tell if it's the biographer's opinion or the reviewer's. True, Martha was a very wealthy widow, but at the time he married her, George had inherited Mt. Vernon and was rather well off himself. It had belonged to his half-brother, who had married into the Fairfax family, and I think the land came from Lord Fairfax. The half-brother died, then his widow, then their young daughter, and Washington was the next in line to inherit. Anyway, he wasn't a John Kerry, if that's the intention of the reviewer.

[VOA]

That distinction belongs to Richard Brookhiser's ''Founding Father.''

Thanks for highlighting that.
I've not read that history, but I do think I've heard it mentioned before.

I admit that some of my enthusiasm for Flexner's book arose from having been
cajoled by my brother to read it. Thus, I found that my uninformed opinion
of Washington being important but not necessarily great...was simply moronic!

[kitkat]

This looks like a good place to ask the following question:

What would you recommend for a 12-year-old boy whose teachers in public school are VERY big on teaching the "old, rich white men" who founded this country to the detriment of the poor?

Help! My grandson is being brain washed.

[petitfour]

Forrest McDonald is most definitely NOT a leftie. lol He was a professor of mine, and he is very, very conservative. I'd say he is a paleocon, and it would be accurate because he is an old conservative. However, since the term has been hijacked by Pat Buchanan, I will just call him a conservative. The impression I have of his opinion of this biography is that it is a decent work, but not overly impressive.

I have not read the book, but I did look at a copy earlier today. All I can say about that is that the cover is pretty. :)

[Californiajones]

Regarding Ellis, Washington's new biographer -- YIKES. I remember hearing about this case. Thanks.

[Californiajones]

My favorite historical book of all time is Emmanuel Hertz's 1939 "biography" of Abraham Lincoln called "LINCOLN TALKS". It was reprinted a few times.

It's a great book because it is not really a biography, but a compilation of things that Lincoln said. GREAT reading.

[mrsmith]

My all-time favorite:
"Patriarch : George Washington and the New American Nation"
by Richard Norton Smith


I'll give the Ellis volume a try though.

[VOA]

Regarding Ellis, Washington's new biographer -- YIKES.

I know I probably sounded petty regarding Ellis.
I was just bringing up his situation because for most folks like myself...
there's only enough money for so many books.
And in that sort of competitive situation, I'd rather not spend my $$$ supporting
Prof. Ellis. He'll do just fine on his pension fund from Mt. Holyoke.

[mrsmith]

Guess I won't be giving Ellis a try LOL!

(note to self: read thread first, then comment)

[Bonaparte]

That "NY Times reviewer" has to be one of the great conservative American historians.

And, yes, I'm also surprised that he would praise Ellis for anything.

[Verginius Rufus]

I don't know Forrest McDonald personally, but I recall reading a remark of his from about 1998. To those who thought Clinton was brilliant, McDonald's answer was that he just had "street smarts."

Ellis had been one of those who dismissed the allegations that Jefferson fathered Sally Hemings' children...until just before the November 1998 elections when that DNA study came out that showed that at least some of her descendants had the Jefferson "Y chromosome" (not necessarily inherited from Jefferson himself as his brother or his Jefferson male cousins could equally well have been the source of the chromosome). Ellis suddenly jumped on the Jefferson-had-children-by-Sally-Hemings bandwagon.

Apparently the publication date of that DNA study had been moved up to help Clinton by diminishing Jefferson's reputation.

[Californiajones]

Thank you for the heads up. Hard to believe the Slimes would allow a conservative reviewer of books.

[kitkat]

Thank you, Californiajones. I'll look for it.