George Washington by James MacGregor Burns and Susan Dunn

Having just read Mary Higgins Clark, Mount Vernon Love Story, I thought it might be worth my while to read a biography of George Washington as a natural follow-up.  This book, not really a biography, is part of a series called The American Presidents edited by Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.  It is the only book on George Washington that I found in the Harker Heights library. It’s a small library, what can I tell you.

Though our soldier-hero-president George Washington wasn’t the central theme of Clark’s Mount Vernon Love Story, she brought him to life effectively and I realized just how very little I knew about our first president.  From Clark’s book I learned that George Washington had an overbearing and stern mother, Washington’s mother being his father’s second wife. Washington had dreams of being a sailor but his mother prohibited it. Washington was not considered an educated man by the standards of his day or ours for that matter.  He was not from the upper crust of colonial landed gentry, his father being only a second or third tier landowner. Washington was, as we all know, physically commanding standing at over 6 feet.  He was athletic, a fine horseman, a brave soldier, a courageous leader and he was a good dancer, a prized quality with dancing being a popular pastime of his era. 

I read this short book in a focused manner using what I'd read about Washington in Clark's book as a starting point.  Clark's depiction of Washington was very accurate. Here are the salient points of this book for me.

Washington was unanimously elected Commander in Chief of the Revolutionary Army.

Washington was unanimously elected President of the Constitutional Convention in 1787

Washington was unanimously elected President of the United States in 1789

Washington served for two terms from 1789 to 1797.

He worked hard to control his emotions, preferring instead to present always a calm manner and a voice of reason, reason being a quality he valued highly.

He had the somewhat daunting task of establishing parameters for and shaping the nature of the executive branch in this new and experimental form of government. He rose to the occasion.   He did not particularly like the idea of political parties and he often found himself negotiating between Hamilton (Federalism) on the one hand and Jefferson (Republic-anism) on the other.

 

 

Martha Washington, An American Life by Patricia Brady

Martha Dandridge Custis Washington (1731-1802) followed her hero-husband, General George Washington, from camp to camp during the Revolutionary War, and she followed him again to New York and then Philadelphia when he served two terms as the first president of the United States. 

 Martha Washington is what you would call a well-adjusted person, confidently self-knowledgeable and comfortable in her person, never pretending to be something she isn’t nor striving to be something she cannot be.  This is an enviable quality and made her likeable, successful and happy in her marriage. 

This was a nicely-written book, not terribly heavy reading (although I did get lost with all the family relations, nieces, nephews, adopted nieces and nephews and grandkids and great grandchildren).  The author gave just the right amount of attention to the backdrop of historical events playing out as we delved into Martha Washington’s life. 

 Martha’s first husband, Custis, was 20 years her senior and lived only seven years after they were married.  Martha was left widowed with two children and quite financially well off if not rich.  The Custis fortune was considerable.

What piqued my curiosity about Martha Washington was the book Mount Vernon Love Story by Mary Higgins Clark.  As mentioned elsewhere, Clark wrote about George and Martha's "love story," their marriage, in an engaging and understanding way.  After reading this book, Martha certainly seems to have been pretty much everything that Clark described and more.  

Clark's book gave slightly greater emphasis to the romance between George Washington and Sally Fairfax.  It is true that bachelor George had an eye for the married Sally Fairfax and that Fairfax and Washington had a flirtation and correspondence, but this author made very little of that unrequited romance seeming to explain that it was simply out of the question that Washington would have ever tried to steal Sally from his friend George Fairfax or, had he tried, that Sally would have succumbed.  It just wasn’t done.

 Read this book if you would like to “get inside” Martha Washington and her era.  It is a biography refreshingly devoid of psychologizing and tendentious analyses that many modern biographers so smugly (and boringly) engage in. 

Mary Higgins Clark

 I’ve mentioned the author but not a title!  That’s because when you read a Mary Higgins Clark book, you read her, Mary, the queen of suspense. 

I have finished my 7^th Mary Higgins Clark book. I don’t even need to tell you the title because Ms. Clark has a no-fail formula that consists of a compelling who dunnit, a female protagonist who is always spunky and independent-minded and a setting that is usually New York City or the tri-state area.  There is a healthy dose of District Attorneys and special investigators plus other assorted characters who end up fitting together as if it’s a Dickens novel.  

There are a lot of Catholic references and there’s a fair amount of gritty violence and fright in her books but always presented without gratuitous or graphic description.  There are truly unsavory characters but no foul language.  There is almost always a romance. 

What have I left out?  Only that her books are completely engaging and are easy reading for the end of the day when you want to disconnect and unwind.  

One thing I always wonder, though, why does Mary always mention what her characters are eating?   For example, she writes, Dinner was pasta with a glass of red wine or They both ordered omelettes, salads and coffee.  Why do you think?

Of the 7 books I’ve read, two stand out.  Where Are the Children is a fast read that is truly creepy. The other is her very first book, an historical novel called Mount Vernon Love Story.  It’s about the marriage of  George and Martha Washington and was apparently a flop.  Yet, in my opinion, this book is clearest proof that Mary is in fact a very good writer.  She used an interesting chronology to present the story and she wrote about the Washingtons with a gentle sort of realism, portraying them kindly, but not blind to their faults.  

I’ve read her at all because I picked up a hardcover signed copy of Daddy’s Little Girl at our church bazaar for $1. 

Do jump on the Mary Higgins Clark bandwagon!