Patriarch: George Washington and the New American Nation Audiobook

Quotes

• “This is a lively, well-written study of Washington’s presidency and subsequent retirement to Mount Vernon; the first U.S. president emerges as a dedicated and politically astute manager who had a tart sense of humor.” 

  — Publishers Weekly

• “Runger’s reading ranges from lively to formal. Sometimes entertainer and sometimes lecturer, he matches his tone to Smith's text, which is larded with interesting stories of political squabbling and family trivia. Recorded Books has put together another perfect match between text and reader.

  — AudioFile

• “Smith captures well the bittersweet presidential years, when Washington used the vast capital of his personal prestige to cement the bands of a shaky union. With wonderful use of detail and anecdote, Smith argues that Washington was not the mere figurehead that other historians have portrayed but a canny politician who mastered and controlled his brilliant subordinates.”

  — Library Journal

• “An absorbing look at the first American presidency, in which Washington emerges not as the familiar George Stuart icon but as a fallible human being—one whose personal qualities nonetheless made him the quintessentially great man of American history…A fine, highly readable, and nicely balanced account.” 

  — Kirkus Reviews