Washington, A Life

The new reading is Washington, A Life, by Ron Chernow. If you thought the 530 pages of All the Light was a bit much, how about this one, with 817 pages of text, with a total of 904 counting acknowledgements, notes, bibliography, and index. (I do use these occasionally.) I took the book to the chart room to see how many tons it weighed, but that scale couldn't handle it. With no dialogue in the pages, the paragraphs are packed. Although we assume no reporters were around to take note of everything Washington said and did, he himself was a great note-taker, keeping a written record of everything he did, or planned to do. He left this output of notes for posterity and today the Washington Presidential Library at Mount Vernon is the repository for these gems.

From the "Prelude" and the first 22 pages I've covered so far, I find it easy enough reading and exceedingly engaging. I expect to become a Washington authority!