He could forgive loyal underlings who underperformed and was often too tolerant of rival officers who plotted against him. Washington could be distracted by such trivialities as the condescension of British officers early in his career or by his renovations at Mount Vernon during the Revolutionary War. Yet Chernow also makes his hero curiously human in battle. “A born soldier, he was curiously at home with bullets whizzing about him.”

“He had a natural toughness and never seemed to gag at bloodshed,” writes Chernow, recounting the battle of Fort Necessity in what is now Pennsylvania. This trait first revealed itself in the French and Indian War, when the young Washington led green troops into the bush for a series of short and bloody encounters. Bullets seemed miraculously to fly by him when under fire. In fact, as he stresses throughout, Washington radiated glory and was always courageous in battle. Yet the author never wholly besmirches the valiant image of Washington that has radiated across the centuries. The figure Chernow presents is awesome, yes, but also a man who loved, flirted, penny-pinched, punished and toiled with the evils of slavery.

Once a dedicated biographer of money men, Ron Chernow now sees himself as a modern Pygmalion: Like the hero of Greek myth, the author has set out to transform a marble image-the statuesque figure of George Washington-into a flesh-and-blood human being.

Washington: A Life, by Ron Chernow, Penguin Press, New York, 2010, $40 Book Review: Washington, by Ron Chernow Close

Washington by Ron Chernow