Citizen Washington

by William Martin

Book Overview

He became the nation's first hero. ...But before that, George Washington was just a man. And in his youth, he was a man on the make. He wanted to serve the king, so he donned a red coat and fought the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0446521728
• ISBN13: 9780446521727
• Release Date: January 1999
• Publisher: Warner Books (NY)
• Length: 583 Pages
• Weight: 1.96 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.6" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

my review

I want to congratulate William Martin on this work. His use of narratives to tell us the way Washington evolved from a third son to one of this nation's founders is extremely well done. By using characters from all aspects of Washington's life makes it all more real. We read about the man, the "massa", the general and the husband. Great Work.

Humanizing

William Martin's latest efforts supports his position as the premier historical novelist of this generation. Like Michener and Vidal in earilier years, Martin is able to bring history alive and shsow us that history is a story and not a recitation of dates so often taught in school. Accurately researched and presented in wonderful detail, Martin sets about doing what Hesperus asks Christopher to do. Find Washington the human. At first I was conflicted reading a narrative that showed Washington as a man with feet of clay like all of us. By the the end of the book I admired Washington more because he was human. By the same devices used on Washington, Martin begins to show us how all the Founding Fathers may be more like us than different or better. I have read all of Martin's novels. Annapolis is by far my favorite but I can't think of any of his historical works that would merit less than 5 stars. Another reviewer wished that this book could be used in a schools curriculum. I wished all his books would become standard. There are fewer literary licenses taken in Martin's works than there are errors in current history books. I went to Washington College in Maryland, a school founded by a financial donation from George in 1782. I have a special spot in my heart for this man now made more special by this book.

The best of many great Martin books.

Citizen Washington is the best written and most dramatically satisfying of William Martin's books, and I have read all of them. He captures Washington and his world with more fire and manipulation and chicanery and passion than any history book I've read, and yet he uses all legitimate facts and truths about the man and his times. If you want to read one novel about the beginnings of this nation, this is it.

The Best Martin Has Written....So Far

This novel was one of the most informative books I have ever read. Not only did we get a run-down on the usual suspects of the era, Jefferson, Adams, and Washington, but the insight gained on the characters which history misses sometimes, like Alexander Hamilton, Henry Knox and Martha Washington made the book very hard to put down. The way Martin intermingles fictional and non-fictional characters is a work of genius. This novel is a fast-paced, fast-reading tale which NEVER bogs the reader down with an endless string of statistics and facts. The story is always the most important part of the book, and Martin hit a home run spinning this tale. I would recommend this novel, obviously to any Martin fans, but also to anyone who has wondered what historical fiction is like. I can not wait for his next novel!!!!

The longer I read, the more compelled I was to read on.

Citizen Washington is not your typical historical novel. While it is held together by a single voice, it is broken up into many short perspectives that lend the story of George Washington a varied examination. At first I found this inconvenient, but once I got to know the people speaking, I welcomed them again and again as they returned to add their view of an event. The story is told without sentimentality or heroics. In fact, the battles fought (or retreated from) are described very simply and directly. It's been a long time since I studied American history, so it was refeshing to read how the Revolution was fought and won from a "novel" point of view. Citizen Washington is definitely worth a read. I found the Federalist vs. Republican debate especially helful, told, as it is, from characters near the debate.