An Imperfect God: George Washington, His Slaves, and the Creation of America

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Summary: A balanced view about Washington and slavery.
Review: As much as is possible for any person, the author gives a fair and balanced analysis of a national icon. But this book is about more than George Washington. I learned more about slavery in the late 1700's from this book than from all the years of history I had in school. Its a fascinating look at a great man and a deep treatise on slavery and the reasons for the system remaining for so long after the creation of our country.



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Summary: An Imperfect God: George Washington, His Slaves, and the Cre
Review: Having won the National Book Critics Circle Award for The Hairstons: An American Family in Black and White, Wiencek here tracks Washington's change in attitude regarding slavery.

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Summary: Engaging, Informative, Imperfect
Review: I enjoyed An Imperfect God because the writing itself was excellent. Although the author veered back and forth between first person observations to a more biographical stance, he managed to engage my attention with his well woven historical references and his ancedotal stories which had a very personal feel.

There were places where the author seemed to rehash stories told by others without adding anything new, and other places where his scholarship was fresh and his conclusions provoke conversation. Wiencek shows us repeatedly the paradox of a man who benefited by owning slaves and their labor, who came to a point of understand the the corrupting influence of absolute power slavery geve owners over the lives of others. Washington allowed arrangements between slaves and their owner/relatives within his own household which we would find untenable at best, and the subject of offensive jokes at worst. The story of Martha Washington's slave sister and Martha's son from her first marriage, which produced a child, is one which would be considered unpalatable in these days but was commonplace in the 17th century until the end of legal slavery. Yet, at the end of his life, he provided for the manumission of his slaves.

Clearly, Wiencek is not a revisionist historian, in the way that most traditional historians use the term. He is a revisionist in the best sense of the word, adding to our knowledge as well as encouraging us to look at viewpoints we might not have considered.

In the end, however, Wiencek's book provides a fresh look at a difficult time and convoluted relationships which have had scant acknowledgement outside the African American community. As our nation finally comes to grips with recent revelations that 20th century segregationist Strom Thurmon fathered a daughter with a black house maid in the early 20th century, we see that Thurmon's behavior is merely an extention of the behavior exhibited in the 1700s by other leaders. Timely, indeed.

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Summary: Neither a hit-piece nor a whitewash
Review: I expected a politically correct hit-piece on Washington, but was pleasantly surprised by what was a really helpful and honest look at the human being on the dollar. I'm just a high school history teacher in Eastern Kentucky, so I guess I'm not really qualified to judge historical accuracy, but it seemed like a pretty good book to me.

I especially appreciated how Wiencek made Washington's background understandable. One can better understand Washington when you see how far he had to move from his contemporaries--priveleged Virginia slaveowners--to even consider freeing his slaves. His growth and his blindness are both clearly and fairly presented. Washington seems more like a real human being, with good and bad like the rest of us.

As for hagiography, I saw none. I suppose if you are a Washington hater you will be disappointed--likewise if you really think that he never told a lie. But if you want to meet a real human being who, almost alone among his contemporaries, struggled greatly to rise above much (but not all) of their racism, this is a great book. The author's first person accounts were a nice touch for all but those who prefer strict dry-as-dust history writing.

There was much here that will help me to better teach American history.

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Summary: Reviewer
Review: I simply just don't buy Wiencek's argument that Washington was the ultimate emancipator, while he makes several references to Jefferson's slanted racial views on slavery which I feel are not only misrepresented, but untrue. Fact of the matter is that none of these noble and honorable individuals had the courage to do what should have been done. The book does show some insight to a humiliating chapter in American history, I would just like to ask Wiencek a few questions about his opinion.

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Summary: An Imperfect God
Review: In An Imperfect God, Author Henry Wiencek succeeds in his portrayal of George Washington as soldier, satatesman, planter, and slaveholder. Along with being a biography of Washington, Wiencek also sheds light on the African presence in America from the 17th century to the present. As one reads, one notices the paradox that is the American Revolution, as well as its leader, Washington. We see Washington's views on slavery, from childhood up until his death.
The topic of relationships between slave and master is also brought up. These include one between Martha Washington's father-in-law and a slave, one between a mulatto woman and Martha's own father (her half sister), the Sally Hemings and Jefferson case, and even one between Washington himself, and a slave named Venus.

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Summary: More than just Washington
Review: This book chronicles not only George Washington's personal transformation from unapologetic slave-owner to guilt ridden proto-abolitionist, but also lesser known vignettes about the other founding fathers and black patriots who fought and died to form this country.

The book neither apologizes nor damns Washington. It is balanced and fair in its treatment of the first Prez. At the end it slightly chastized Washington for not freeing his slaves while in office, and the example such an act would have set, yet the author covered his bases enough in the preceding chapters (ie the threat of British reconquest over a dividing America) to show how difficult the issue was Realpolitik-wise. Slavery was evil, and most of the Founders knew it, and they feared for their country because of it.

Unlike Jefferson, Washington wasn't racist, and by the end of the War, Washington was heavily recruiting free blacks. There is no indication that he treated them any less than whites, he visited all the soldiers preceding the daring assault at Yorktown. He personally invited the black poet Phyllis Wheatley to Mount Vernon because he admired her work. These stories are some of the most satisfying elements in the book, after all black patriotism during the Revolutionary War period is disgustinly neglected by most history books and contemporary interpretations of Revolutionary politics. These black soldiers that formed most of the Rhode Island brigade (that saved Washington's life at Bunker Hill), that formed Glover's naval forces, they didn't fight for anachronistic Marxism, or Socialism, or class war, or an Exodus back to Africa, or "Black Power", they fought for the same beautiful principles of individual liberty that Jefferson and the remaining Founding Fathers so hypocritically professed.

Washington, at least, the old General, knew this at the end of his life, and tried to rectify it. By dealing honestly w/ the real issue of slavery and Washington's relationship with it, this book does more to valorize Washington than any whitewashing of the period would have.

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Summary: A Great Read!
Review: Washington's times and person come alive for me in this book. I could hardly set the book down. The author's research and insights are masterful. This is more than a biography of Washington, it is a revelation of what it was like to live in Virginia of the 18th century. I went to college in Williamsburg and shall never again visit the town without seeing children auctioned off as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson ride by. Washington is even more admirable now, as one can appreciate his pilgirmage from slaveowner to emancipator.

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Summary: Interesting and informative
Review: What changed George Washington from a man willingly breaking up families by participating in the auction of slave children to a man who planned to emancipate his slaves while he was still president? Why would a man using slave labor decide later in life that if the Union split apart into North and South, he would "remove and be of the Northern."?
The book does not sugar coat Washington's involvement in slave holding, but tries to solve the question of what transformed Washington from a slave owner to a man claiming holding slaves was his "only unavoidable subject of regret." We find out why George Washington did not set his slaves free earlier in his life even through he set plans in motion several times to do so.
This is a very informative book, not only concerning Washington, but also the slavery question in general during the colonial period. Enjoyable to read for anyone interested in slavery or Washington.
There are several interesting discussions concerning the author's interviews with descendant's of slaves, along with a short study of how the subject of slavery has been portrayed in Colonial Williamsburg over the years.
The only fault I find with the book is the lengthy discussion of whether or not George Washington fathered a child with a slave woman. The conclusion is that he probably did not, but this part of the book becomes rather slow reading.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting and informative
Review: What changed George Washington from a man willingly breaking up families by participating in the auction of slave children to a man who planned to emancipate his slaves while he was still president? Why would a man using slave labor decide later in life that if the Union split apart into North and South, he would "remove and be of the Northern."?
The book does not sugar coat Washington's involvement in slave holding, but tries to solve the question of what transformed Washington from a slave owner to a man claiming holding slaves was his "only unavoidable subject of regret." We find out why George Washington did not set his slaves free earlier in his life even through he set plans in motion several times to do so.
This is a very informative book, not only concerning Washington, but also the slavery question in general during the colonial period. Enjoyable to read for anyone interested in slavery or Washington.
There are several interesting discussions concerning the author's interviews with descendant's of slaves, along with a short study of how the subject of slavery has been portrayed in Colonial Williamsburg over the years.
The only fault I find with the book is the lengthy discussion of whether or not George Washington fathered a child with a slave woman. The conclusion is that he probably did not, but this part of the book becomes rather slow reading.