"Washington's Birthday" is part of the "Best Holiday Books" series, which tells young students not only about the life of the George Washington but also how his birthday became a holiday, which eventually became Presidents' Day. Author Dennis Brindell Fradin presents Washington as "The Father of Our Country" and the most famous person in American History. This book covers Washington's life as a boy, his military career both before and during the American Revolution, and his final service as the first President. Fradin concludes by telling the various ways in which Washington has been honored, including making his birthday a national holiday. There are also suggestions for how students can celebrate Washington for Presidents' Day. "Washington's Birthday" is illustrated with paintings, drawings, and etchings, and also includes a survey of his half-brother's turnip field that Washington did when he was 16 years old.

Multiple reviewers of other Washington biographies recommended this abridgement over the book they were reviewing. I am a reader, as claimed above, but I have NOT read ANY Washington biography. I still thought the above information might be helpful to other seekers.

A short telling of the life of George Washington. Brookhiser's writing is difficult to find an audience. He writes short biographies that gloss over and mention items that are not readily understood by those new to the subject. At the same time, those who are knowledgeable on the subject will find the books lacking detail and not enjoy the book as well. This book on George Washington is no exception. The book is well written, but difficult to read because of the information that is packed into this 200+ page volume. One must pay excruciating detail to the book to not miss anything. Not until reading Flexner's "George Washington-The Indispensable Man", did I feel I understood enough about our first President. This book is a good short primer for those not really interested in in-depth study.

I don't profess to be an expert on George Washington, but I have read some (Flexner, Angel in a Whirlwind) and, though I thoroughly enjoyed this rather thin book, would not recommend it to someone who didn't already have some familiarity with GW. The book includes a number of thought provoking commentaries, but I think assumes that the reader is fairly well-versed in the basic life and times of its subject. In reading this book (and other biographies), you can't help but admire the man and marvel at our good fortune in having men of his character when we needed them most. (You also can't help but cringe (or weep) when comparing him to the latest gentleman to hold the office.)

Brookhiser has done two things here. First, he has contributed to our understanding of our first president, who for so many has become just a face on a quarter, or a hairdo on a one dollar bill. George Washington was so big, that his legacy can handle many more books. This book serves as an incisive thematic essay, grounded in the perspective of fathering, and fathering a whole country. The fact that Washington never fathered any of his own children makes this more interesting.

Second, we have here a new, more serious Brookhiser, shown by his subsequent biography of Alexander Hamilton. Brookhiser cut his teeth writing for National Review, and wrote some incredibly perceptive essays on the Republican primary contestants in 1980. The good news is that he has deepened as a writer, and now shows that he can also research back in time.

This book reads fast, but sinks deep. Buy it, read it.

This biography is a somewhat dark biography in that it focuses on the problems and not the incredible things that George Washington did. It also contains an inaccurate quote on page 54. The source of the quote is a letter to his brother John, where Washington is describing his incredible escape from an ambush near French-held Fort Duquesne. Every officer was killed and George Washington has 4 bullet holes in his cloak and 2 horses shot out from under him. In "The Writings of George Washington," George states: "But by the all-powerful dispensations of Providence, I have been protected beyond all human probability or expectation; for I had..." and he describes the situation to his brother. Albert Marrin changed this quote in his book to read: "I luckily escaped without a wound though I had..."
Many other books that have been written about George Washington have reduced Washington's quote or left it out altogether since it is a little long for children. But no one has changed it before...that is revisionistic, and unacceptable.

I had to write this review because this is a fantastic book and it deserves a better rating than it has. I have read just about all of Marrin's books. He is my favorite author of history books for young adults. The reading style is always appropriate for younger readers (age 12 and up), but usually Marrin's books are too long for this target audience, who often struggle at reading anything that takes more than hour. I've seen kids I tried to get to read this book get turned-off after raising and lowering it a few times to assess its weight. In my view every page of Marrin's "George Washington" is worth reading. Marrin often finds choice excerpts from the primary literature that give you the feeling that you're really getting to know Washington and his times. Disregard the last customer review about inaccuracy. Marrin is a true historian and even if one quote wasn't verbatim, he didn't change its meaning.

I also disagree with the School Library Journal review saying that Milton Meltzer's "George Washington and the Birth of Our Nation" and Mary Pope Osborne's "George Washington: Leader of a New Nation" are equally fine biographies. Marrin has them both beat by miles. The writing is faster paced, the illustrations are better, and the book takes the subject to a greater depth.

I'm using this book, among many others, in a homeschooling course on the American Revolution. There are many good illustrations, the language is simple and unpretentious, and the story is engaging my 13 year old -- in fact, it is often quite gory and graphic in its descriptions of wartime events! Beware if you're squeamish about war. But young lads will love it.

I fondly remember reading a fascinating biography of George Washington Carver when I was much younger...this wasn't it.

This book reads like a series of short anecdotes about Dr. Carver, with very little connecting them. It can be confusing with it's bad cohesion and tendancy to wander off track.

I knew I was in trouble on page one when I couldn't figure out what year it was talking about. Paragraph one talks about the great news of the the 13th amendment ending slavery in 1865. Paragraph 2 and 3 talk about Dr. Carver being born in 1860 or '61, but it isn't clear that the narration has jump anti-chronologically here.

I don't know what the target age is for this book. I think a High School Freshman could handle most of it. But I had to go to a dictionary to look up the word self-abnegation.

My advice? Do read a biography of the great and fascinating scientist/naturalist George Washington Carver. Don't make it this one; there are better ones out there.

THIS BOOK IS ABOUT A EXTRAODRINARY MAN, GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER. HE WAS A GREAT AMERICAN WHO CONTRIBUTED TO THE WORLD AS A SCIENTIST, HUMANITARIAN, AND AND AMBASSADOR OF GOOD WILL. ONE THING THAT MAKES THIS BOOK UNIQUE IS THAT IT WAS PUBLISHED SHORTLY AFTER HIS DEATH, SO MANY PEOPLE THAT KNEW HIM WERE STILL ALIVE. I WOULD RECCOMEND THIS BOOK TO ANYOME WHO IS INTERESTED IN LEARNING ABOUT G. W. CARVER.

This is an exceptionally well written biography of one of histories truly great scientists. The power of his intellect developed through many years of struggle and emerged to provide us and the World with a gentle giant. He was a scientist who had no limits to his capacity to study and contribute to all. This book served as a guide for my father who lectured to many audiences about the valuable accmplishments of Dr. Carver. We presented that book and my father's lecture notes to Tuskegee recently.

Although the first of the Nick Stefano books, I read this one after the other two (Nick's Trip and Down By the River Where the Dead Men Go), and it's probably a good thing I did too. I probably never would have continued on through the series if I had have read this one first. It is easily the weakest of the Stefano books. It lacks direction for a good 90% of the book and only really starts to hot up for the finale and the reveals. Like the other books, Nick Stefano and his friends indulge in mind-blowing quantities of both alcohol and marijuana. Unfortunately, the focus was mostly on these excesses rather than trying to solve the problem at hand, which was to find a former co-worker who appeared to have been kidnapped.

For completeness sake, by all means read this book, but really, it isn't necessary before going on to the next in the series, Nick's Trip, which I felt was a more enjoyable and entertaining story.

This first book in the "Nick Stefanos" series is definately a guy book: lots of drinking and drugs, fistfights, all-night drives, hamburgers, and sex on the couch. Excellent descriptions and some fine writing, to be sure, but a little more author's energy spent on character development would have helped me relate to Nick and his buddies, and actually invest some energy in caring what happened to them.

"A Firing Offense" is a good story, however, and one well worth reading if you like action and plot.

Given that this is the author's first book and that it might not be quite as polished as later work, should you read this book? My answer is: yes, definitely. In fact, I'd recommend that you read this as your second Pelecanos book. I'd recommend The Big Blowdown as your first because it is set in an earlier period. There are some key characters in this book who show up in later works and I would have enjoyed having read this for background about them.

Generally, this book has the standard qualities I love in this author's work - gritty crime stories, interesting characters and great scene development. Besides that, this book would be worth reading for the Johnny McGinnes character alone. He's a sidekick rather than a main player, but he is one wild and crazy and hugely entertaining guy. Check him and this book out if you like crime fiction. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

I am under the belief that the people that wrote favorable reviews for this book were related to Harrison Clark (the author).

Although the book contains a lot of great information, the format, the grammar, and the lack of good maps limits the readers understanding.

format - there were times when the text was so disjointed that I had to reread sections several times and sit down with pen an paper to map out his ideas.

grammar - the author, for example, will tell a story about several men. When continuing the story about one man specifically Harrison will refer to the person as "him" without letting the reader know which of the men to whom he is making the reference.

maps - The author refers to a lot of places, but doesn't map them out so it is hard to gain an understanding of what is happening in the book.

If you haven't purchased this book - don't. Given Harrison's creditials this book is a disappointment.

I found this author to be a very cumbersome writer. He delivers a lot of great information, but often in a scattered, non grammatically correct format. This has caused me to reread sections of the book and make assessments about what the author is attempting to convey. For example, the author could be telling a story about 3 men and then continue talking only about one of them - but never tells the reader about which man he is speaking....he only refers to the man as "him". For a man of his credentials, I am really disappointed.

The first of Harrison Clark's two-parter on George Washington focuses on Washington's life and career up through 1781, and this volume closes with the victory at Yorktown that effectively ended the American Revolution.

I would take issue with the Book Description (above) which describes the main character in this book as the "youthful Washingon, one not transformed into the dignified figure we associate with our first president." While Washington does not become president at any point in these pages, all the traits that we look for in Washington -- the dignified figure, master politician and diplomat, and inspirational leader -- are already in well in place by the final third of this book. One factor that practically leaps off the pages is the all-out adoration that men and women alike, regardless of their place in society, felt for the man. Clark lets those who saw and interacted with Washington do the talking through their letters or diaries, and Washington's charisma shines brightly from these pages.

Clark has chosen to let Washington and his contemporaries tell the story of Washington's life and career through their own writings, and it would be a welcome choice but for one thing -- the book is organized so clumsily as to become disjointed. Rather than edit and organize the various writings into a narrative, Clark instead divides each chapter up into what I can only think to describe as a series of short vignettes.

For example, chapter 19, "Cambridge and Boston," is broken up into 11 smaller parts, some of them only half a page long. It makes progress rather like reading a college textbook, with each section broken into smaller subsections, separated by its own little bold-faced headline ("The Vanishing Army"). Clark does tend to group events into short pieces that make sense on their own, but lack the context of the larger story.

Clark wisely spends most of his time in this book outlining Washington's career in the Continental Army, but it is sometimes difficult to get an appreciation for the battles and skirmishes Washington fought because the maps of the battle sites are almost completely useless. The map of the 1776 New York Campaign, for example, is difficult to align with almost anything in the text.

It's a shame that Clark has chosen such a floppy format in which to present his information, because there's some really first-rate stuff in here (the chapter on Benedict Arnold's treason is a highlight of the book, although it, too, gets bogged down in some disjointed narration). If you've not had the opportunity to read Washington's own letters from this period, Clark provides you with lots of samples of Washington's writings which, by themselves, make this volume worth owning. But if you're looking for an easily accessible, readable biography, this one probably isn't for you.

Five stars for wealth of information presented, but only one star for the format, bringing this one down to a three.

George Washington Carver was born a slave; he did not let that bother him. He did what he could to get through life and to get in school and out of school. The setting took place at various places: Missouri, Iowa, Alabama, etc. Carver was loving, compassionate, loyal, committed, trustworthy, etc. When he received his degree, he went back to help his people. For example, he took Washington T. Booker's offer and taught at an African-American college. Themes such as "tribulation produce perseverance, character, and then hope" was illustrated in the story. This book was written mostly in a dialogue form. Because it is a biography, the author incorporated many facts or useful information, not only about Carver, but also about slaves, the people in general, and the culture of the eighteenth hundred. Author Epstein also used irony in the book. He compared and contrast the differences between Jim, the brother, with George. The author also used metaphor. He illustrated that "the clapping was as loud as thunder." We know here that the sound of clapping can never be as loud as the sound of thunder. This book have short sentences and contain vocabularies that are easy to read and understand. Although this book was not written in a didactic tone, the story line as a whole can be used to teach the people in gneral. For example, George had every reason not to succeed. During the 18th hundred, there were many odds against slaves. For example, they were denied equal rights in many areas. George continued to pursue his dreams and goals despite the circumstances. He proved the whole world that he could overcalm any obstacle. From this, children may learn from the story that they can do anything if they set their mind into it. It is a powerful book if we make it to be. Each of the issues that is illustrated in the book can be taken out to discuss it in detail. The book is appropriate for children from ages 10 to 13 as well as adults. Teachers an parents may want to pick this ! book if they are teaching children about committment to school, being patriotic, and bein loyal. I enjoy reading about George Washington Carver. It is interesting to know all the different plants that he discovered. This book is useful because students may use it as a referrence for their book report. Another great thing about this book was that it was written in an unbias tone. There are many sensitive issues that are illustrated in the book. The author did a wonderful job at keeping each issue simple and short so that audience of all age group could understand.

George Washington Carver was born a slave; he did not let that bother him. He did what he could to get through life and to get in school and out of school. The setting took place at various places: Missouri, Iowa, Alabama, etc. Carver was loving, compassionate, loyal, committed, trustworthy, etc. When he received his degree, he went back to help his people. For example, he took Washington T. Booker's offer and taught at an African-American college. Themes such as "tribulation produce perseverance, character, and then hope" was illustrated in the story. This book was written mostly in a dialogue form. Because it is a biography, the author incoprporated many facts or useful information, not only about Carver, but also about slaves, "White" people, and the culture during of the eighteenth hundred. Author Epstein also used irony in the book. On page 31, he talked about Jim, George's brother, being very strong, and thus could live through anything. George, on the other hand, was described as being very sickly, and that he would probably die sooner or later. It turned out that Jim died and George lived. The author also used metaphor. On page 42, the authors illustrated that "the clapping was as loud as thunder." We know here that the sound of clapping can never be as loud as the sound of thunder. This book have short sentences and contain vocabularies that are easy to read and understand. Although this book was not written in a didactic tone, the story line as a whole can be used to teach the people in general. For example, George had every reason not to succeed. During the 18th hundred, there were many odds against slave. For example, they were denied equal rights in many areas. George continued to pursue his dreams and goals regardless of the circumtances. He proved the whole world that he could overcalm any obstacle. When he received his degree and taught in college, we knew that he was succesful. From this, children may learn that they ca! n do anything if they set their mind into it. This book is simples in that it contains 79 pages and 10 little chapters only. However, it is a powerful book. Each of the issues that is illustrated in the book can be taken out to discuss it. The book is appropriate for children from ages 10 to 13 as well as adults. Teachers and parents amy want to pick this book if they are teaching children about committment to school, patriotic, and being loyal.

If you like excitement, fun, and history all put together you want to read the book "George Washington Carver". The excitement is when he gets captured as a baby. The fun is when you are reading. There are many cliff hangers. The history is the whole book. Though it is history Sam and Beryl Epstein made it interesting, too! I think you should read this book. Enjoy!

Although providing some interesting insight into Washington's domestic life; his relationships with his mother, his wife, step-children, and step grandchildren, Randall's book lacks precision and accuracy. The many factual errors in dates and events are enough to make this book a chore to read for any who may be a serious student of Washington. The author uses and reuses the same quotes, often withing 1 or 2 pages in the text. Additionally, Randall is lacking in military knowledge, as he has made several errors regarding military terms or equipment and its usage. Oh, and yes, we all know that Henry Knox was fat, but we don't need to be reminded of it every time he is mentioned.

I read this book in hopes of learning more about the nation's first president. I have always found Washington to be a fascinating person but I never did know very many details about his personal life. In school we learn about the legend who overcame great odds and could do no wrong when leading this nation into freedom and independence. Willard Randall focuses on George Washington the man by providing you with an interesting insight into Washington's personal relationships, his shortcomings and his ambitions. The book also focuses on his early career as a soldier in the French and Indian War and as a member of General Braddock's ill-fated expedition. It does an excellent job of describing the environment and events which led Washington to make the decision to lead the Continental army against the British knowing that he would lose everything if he was not successful. There are probably other books on George Washington that are more detailed and thorough but if you want a general overview that is interesting and easy to read then this is the book that I highly recommend.

I'm at something of a loss to reconcile my impressions of Randall's work with the numerous bad reviews given here. Let me say up front that this is the first Washington biography that I've read--but I've studied quite a lot of the history and times of the man himself.

Perhaps it is a question of perspective. I found the book to be engaging, approachable, and suitable for reading on airplanes. It could very well be that some will find this an inherent flaw. They may be seeking a more academic writing.

Perhaps others are seeking revisionist history and are disappointed to find that Randall treats the Father of His Country with something approaching respect. He did spend time on Washington's unrequited love for Mrs. Fairfax, and also his crafty business dealings, so I'm not sure what more is to be expected.

As to matters of factual error, I cannot comment. I hope they are corrected in future editions.

In short, George Washington: A Life is readable, engaging, respectful--but not kowtowing--and a good introduction to the man we owe so much.