Sign-In
Cart
First Among Men: George Washington and the Myth of American Masculinity
Hardcover
Presidents & Heads of StateGeneral Gender StudiesRevolutionary Period (1775-1800)
Currently unavailable to order
Please enter your email and a message will be sent to you when this product becomes available on our website.
ISBN13: 9781421444475
Publisher: Johns Hopkins Univ Pr
Published: Oct 11 2022
Pages: 416
Weight: 1.30
Height: 0.94 Width: 6.06 Depth: 9.13
Language: English
Dispelling common myths about the first US president and revealing the real George Washington.
Winner of the George Washington Prize
George Washington--hero of the French and Indian War, commander in chief of the Continental Army, and first president of the United States--died on December 14, 1799. The myth-making began immediately thereafter, and the Washington mythos crafted after his death remains largely intact. But what do we really know about Washington as an upper-class man?
Washington is frequently portrayed by his biographers as America at its unflinching best: tall, shrewd, determined, resilient, stalwart, and tremendously effective in action. But this aggressive and muscular version of Washington is largely a creation of the nineteenth century. Eighteenth-century ideals of upper-class masculinity would have preferred a man with refined aesthetic tastes, graceful and elegant movements, and the ability and willingness to clearly articulate his emotions. At the same time, these eighteenth-century men subjected themselves to intense hardship and inflicted incredible amounts of violence on each other, their families, their neighbors, and the people they enslaved. In First Among Men: George Washington and the Myth of American Masculinity, Valsania considers Washington's complexity and apparent contradictions in three main areas: his physical life (often bloody, cold, injured, muddy, or otherwise unpleasant), his emotional world (sentimental, loving, and affectionate), and his social persona (carefully constructed and maintained). In each, he notes, the reality diverges from the legend quite drastically. Ultimately, Valsania challenges readers to reconsider what they think they know about Washington.
Aided by new research, documents, and objects that have only recently come to light, First Among Men tells the fascinating story of a living and breathing person who loved, suffered, moved, gestured, dressed, ate, drank, and had sex in ways that may be surprising to many Americans. In this accessible, detailed narrative, Valsania presents a full, complete portrait of Washington as readers have rarely seen him before: as a man, a son, a father, and a friend.
2 different editions
Also available
First Among Men: George Washington and the Myth of American Masculinity
Valsania, Maurizio
Audio Book
First Among Men: George Washington and the Myth of American Masculinity
Valsania, Maurizio
Audio Book
Also in
Presidents & Heads of State
The Allies: Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin, and the Unlikely Alliance That Won World War II
Groom, Winston
Paperback
The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War
Larson, Erik
Paperback
The Kennedys and the Windsors: The Story of Two Dynasties, One Born, One Made
Hallemann, Caroline
Hardcover
America's Founding Son: John Quincy Adams, from President to Political Maverick
Crawford, Bob
Hardcover
A Perfect Coincidence: The Extraordinary Friendship and Astonishing Deaths of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson
Rasenberger, Jim
Hardcover
The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz
Larson, Erik
Paperback
The Power Broker (Pulitzer Prize Winner): Robert Moses and the Fall of New York
Caro, Robert A.
Paperback
Thomas Jefferson Survives: American Independence in His Time and Ours
Onuf, Peter S.
Cogliano, Francis D.
Hardcover
The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War
Larson, Erik
Hardcover
Korean Messiah: Kim Il Sung and the Christian Roots of North Korea's Personality Cult
Cheng, Jonathan
Hardcover
Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President
Millard, Candice
Paperback
A Revolution of Common Sense: How Donald Trump Stormed Washington and Fought for Western Civilization
Jennings, Scott
Hardcover
Twilight of Camelot: The Short Life and Long Legacy of Patrick Bouvier Kennedy
Levingston, Steven
Hardcover
Don't Tell the President: The Best, Worst, and Mostly Untold Stories from Presidential Advance
Becker, Jean
Collamore, Tom
Hardcover
The Last Titans: How Churchill and de Gaulle Saved Their Nations and Transformed the World
Vinen, Richard
Hardcover
The Most Awful Responsibility: Truman and the Secret Struggle for Control of the Atomic Age
Wellerstein, Alex
Hardcover
The First Lady Next Door: A Memoir of Iceland, Identity, and Unexpected Adventure
Reid, Eliza
Hardcover
The Second Emancipation: Nkrumah, Pan-Africanism, and Global Blackness at High Tide
French, Howard W.
Hardcover
Mornings on Horseback: The Story of an Extraordinary Family, a Vanished Way of Life and the Unique Child Who Became Theodore Roosevelt
McCullough, David
Paperback
Who Killed Jfk?: Solving America's Greatest Murder Mystery
Hoffman, David
Russell, Dick
Reiner, Rob
Hardcover
Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man
Trump, Mary L.
Paperback
The Power Broker (Pulitzer Prize Winner): Robert Moses and the Fall of New York
Caro, Robert A.
Hardcover
Confronting the Presidents: No Spin Assessments from Washington to Biden
O'Reilly, Bill
Dugard, Martin
Hardcover
Young Washington: How Wilderness and War Forged America's Founding Father (Large Print Edition)
Stark, Peter
Paperback
No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II
Goodwin, Doris Kearns
Paperback
The President and the Oligarch: Roosevelt, Mellon, and the Triumph of Big Government
Steinmetz, Greg
Hardcover
The History of World War II: A Graphic Novel Retelling of the 20th Century's Defining War
de la Croix, Arnaud
Hardcover
PT 109: An American Epic of War, Survival, and the Destiny of John F. Kennedy
Doyle, William
Paperback
A Shadow Over the World: Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Rise of Fascism, and the Making of America's World War II
Hitchcock, William I.
Hardcover
Master of the Senate (Pulitzer Prize Winner): The Years of Lyndon Johnson III
Caro, Robert A.
Paperback
Presidential Road Trips: 100 Places To Explore And Experience The History of American Presidents
Clevlen, Bill
Paperback
Lincoln's Road to War: A Day-by-Day Account of the First 60 Days of Abraham Lincoln's Presidency
Johnson, David Alan
Hardcover
The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz
Larson, Erik
Hardcover
To Rescue the American Spirit: Teddy Roosevelt and the Birth of a Superpower (Large Print Edition)
Baier, Bret
Paperback
Hiding in Plain Sight: The Invention of Donald Trump and the Erosion of America
Kendzior, Sarah
Paperback
Diario de Una Transición Histórica / Journal of a Historic Transition
Sheinbaum Pardo, Claudia
Paperback
The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism
Goodwin, Doris Kearns
Paperback
Founding Partisans: Hamilton, Madison, Jefferson, Adams and the Brawling Birth of American Politics
Brands, H. W.
Paperback
The Man Who Would Be King: Mohammed Bin Salman and the Transformation of Saudi Arabia
House, Karen Elliott
Hardcover
First Principles: What America's Founders Learned from the Greeks and Romans and How That Shaped Our Country
Ricks, Thomas E.
Paperback
Making the Presidency: John Adams and the Precedents That Forged the Republic
Chervinsky, Lindsay M.
Hardcover
Silent Spring Revolution: John F. Kennedy, Rachel Carson, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, and the Great Environmental Awakening
Brinkley, Douglas
Paperback
To Rescue the Republic: Ulysses S. Grant, the Fragile Union, and the Crisis of 1876
Whitney, Catherine
Baier, Bret
Paperback
The Accidental President: Harry S. Truman and the Four Months That Changed the World
Baime, A. J.
Paperback
To Rescue the Constitution: George Washington and the Fragile American Experiment
Baier, Bret
Paperback
Theodore Roosevelt and the Smithsonian Expedition to British East Africa, 1909-1910
Goodyear III, Frank H.
Hardcover
The JFK Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill Kennedy--And Why It Failed
Mensch, Josh
Meltzer, Brad
Paperback
Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream: The Most Revealing Portrait of a President and Presidential Power Ever Written
Goodwin, Doris Kearns
Paperback
Presidenta: La Victoria de Una Mujer En Un País de Hombres / Madam President: A Woman's Victory in a Country of Men
Zepeda Patterson, Jorge
Paperback
Winston and the Windsors: How Churchill Shaped a Royal Dynasty (Large Print Edition)
Morton, Andrew
Paperback
To Rescue the Constitution: George Washington and the Fragile American Experiment
Baier, Bret
Hardcover
American Sphinx (National Book Award Winner): The Character of Thomas Jefferson
Ellis, Joseph J.
Paperback
Three Days in Moscow: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of the Soviet Empire
Baier, Bret
Whitney, Catherine
Paperback
The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Retirement Series, Volume 22: 1 November 1824 to 3 May 1825
Jefferson, Thomas
Hardcover
Ask Not: The Inauguration of John F. Kennedy and the Speech That Changed America
Clarke, Thurston
Paperback
The Light of Battle: Eisenhower, D-Day, and the Birth of the American Superpower
Paradis, Michel
Paperback
Traitor to His Class: The Privileged Life and Radical Presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Brands, H. W.
Paperback
Dinner with the President: Food, Politics, and a History of Breaking Bread at the White House
Prud'homme, Alex
Paperback
Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination That Changed America Forever
O'Reilly, Bill
Dugard, Martin
Paperback
Three Days in Moscow: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of the Soviet Empire (Large Print Edition)
Baier, Bret
Whitney, Catherine
Paperback
The Presidents Club: Inside the World's Most Exclusive Fraternity
Duffy, Michael
Gibbs, Nancy
Paperback
Thomas Jefferson and the God Who Gave Us Liberty: Christian Nationalist? or Secular Deist?
Beliles, Mark A.
Newcombe, Jerry
Paperback
The President and the Freedom Fighter: Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, and Their Battle to Save America's Soul
Kilmeade, Brian
Paperback
Write It When I'm Gone: Remarkable Off-the-Record Conversations with Gerald R. Ford
Defrank, Thomas M.
Paperback
A Country of Vast Designs: James K. Polk, the Mexican War and the Conquest of the American Continent
Merry, Robert W.
Paperback