Books with title DK Biography: George Washington

In the numerous surveys that rank American presidents, George Washington consistently ranks near the top. His peers as the nation’s greatest presidents are typically Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and FDR’s distant cousin, Theodore Roosevelt. However, no other president faced the challenges that the nation’s first commander in chief encountered, both in and outside of the executive office. When Washington was born, colonial America was still under British rule. Few, if any, had notions of independence. Even when war against Britain was imminent, those firmly on the side of putting an end to British rule were in the minority. Yet, by the time Washington was in his 20s, America was on its way to creating its own nation, even if Great Britain had yet to acknowledge the movement that was underway. When rumblings about breaking free from the Crown began to be felt throughout the colonies, Washington was at the forefront. Before he was president, Washington proved himself on the battlefield in the French and Indian War to such a degree that he was eventually given command of the Virginia Regiment. He learned his lessons well and understood that the traditions of European warfare would not work in the backwoods of America. When the time came for the colonies to unite and strike for independence, Washington not only led the Continental Army, he created it. After that fight was won, he shocked the world be relinquishing the power that many felt rightly belonged to him and resigned his commission. The farm life of Mount Vernon in his native Virginia called to him, as it would time and again. However, when his country called for him, he was there for it, too. There was likely never a president more reluctant than the nation’s first. He doubted that he had the skills required to create the standards of the office, understanding that each decision would be historical in its own way. Despite those doubts, he approached the task with a balance of authority and restraint, setting the course for the presidency that is recognizable even in modern times. The country revered him and his leadership so much that it never fully accepted his second – and final – retirement from public life. Even as he was on his deathbed, the request that he consider a third term as president of the United States was being drafted. As a man and a Southern plantation owner, Washington also set standards to be matched. While it is true that he owned slaves, as was the norm for the era, he grew troubled with the notion of human bondage over time. When he made arrangements to free his slaves upon his death, he set the stage for other political leaders of his era to follow suit, although they did not do so. Of course, Washington was not without fault. He had expectations for others that they often struggled to meet and he was seemingly perpetually in debt due to his own spending habits. Still, none of Washington’s faults or failures detract from what he accomplished. He seemed to be aware that he was making history with every step, although it is likely that even he could not predict the ongoing interest in his life and the reverence that Americans continue to have for the country’s first president.

Cheryl Harness uses her wonderfully vibrant art and down-to-earth writing style to "chip away the marble" and present George Washington as more than a monument. We see George the adventurous boy, tromping through the woods with his dog and his hunting rifle; George the courageous military leader fighting alongside his men; George the cunning military strategist, outfoxing the British and forcing their surrender at Yorktown; George the brilliant statesman presiding over the Constitutional Convention; and George the President, wisely protecting our country from enemies foreign and domestic so it could grow strong. But through it all, we see George as happiest living as an experimental farmer at Mount Vernon with his wife, Martha. He could have been Emperor of America, but he chose to spend his last years "looking after things that needed doing" at home.National Geographic supports K-12 educators with ELA Common Core Resources.Visit www.natgeoed.org/commoncore for more information.

The early life of George Washington in a new, illustrated edition of the classic biography by Sterling North.Before he became the first president of the United States, George Washington was a frontiersman. North fully captures the spirit of the man as he examines Washington's childhood in colonial Virginia, his work as a teenage surveyor, his early experiences as a member of the Virginia militia, and his many adventures before the American Revolution. The fully rounded man who emerges from this captivating portrait is uncomfortable with words, shy around women, completely at home in the outdoors, and deeply in love with the country he helped found.

He was born in a little red brick house that his father had built on the oyster-shell hill. By that time so much land had been cleared that the wilderness was far in the distance" So begins the simple and inauspicious life of George Washington -- a backwoods Virginia boy destined to become the Father of His Country. Meticulously researched, the d'Aulaires hiked and camped all over Virginia as they imbibed the spirit of this great man. The story follows his growth from young boy to surveyor, to soldier in the French and Indian War where he became a war hero. Then George courted Martha Custis and after their marriage they built a thriving plantation at Mount Vernon. The d'Aulaire illustrations reflect the folk-art style they intended, seeking to depict characters that would appear much as the rocking horses and toy soldiers children played with in their nurseries.