An Imperfect God: George Washington, His Slaves, and the Creation of America
Written by Henry Wiencek
Narrated by Rick Adamson
()
About this audiobook
A major new biography of Washington, and the first to explore his engagement with American slavery
When George Washington wrote his will, he made the startling decision to set his slaves free; earlier he had said that holding slaves was his "only unavoidable subject of regret." In this groundbreaking work, Henry Wiencek explores the founding father's engagement with slavery at every stage of his life—as a Virginia planter, soldier, politician, president, and statesman.
Washington was born and raised among blacks and mixed-race people; he and his wife had blood ties to the slave community. Yet as a young man he bought and sold slaves without scruple, even raffled off children to collect debts (an incident ignored by earlier biographers). Then, on the Revolutionary battlefields where he commanded both black and white troops, Washington's attitudes began to change.
Wiencek's revelatory narrative, based on a meticulous examination of private papers, court records, and the voluminous Washington archives, documents for the first time the moral transformation culminating in Washington's determination to emancipate his slaves. He acted too late to keep the new republic from perpetuating slavery, but his repentance was genuine. And it was perhaps related to the possibility that a slave named West Ford was the son of George and a woman named Venus; Wiencek has new evidence that this might indeed be true.
George Washington's heroic stature as Father of Our Country is not diminished in this superb, nuanced portrait: now we see Washington in full as a man of his time and ahead of his time.
Henry Wiencek
Henry Wiencek, a nationally prominent historian and writer, is the author of several books, including The Hairstons: An American Family in Black and White, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1999, and, most recently, Master of the Mountain: Thomas Jefferson and His Slaves.
Related to An Imperfect God
Related audiobooks
The Unknown American Revolution: The Unruly Birth of Democracy and the Struggle to Create America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Washington: The Making of the American Capital Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Redemption: The Last Battle of the Civil War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Black Hands, White House: Slave Labor and the Making of America Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5American Slavery, American Freedom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Woman of Valor: Clara Barton and the Civil War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Creole Rebellion: The Most Successful Slave Revolt in American History Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Question of Freedom: The Families Who Challenged Slavery from the Nation's Founding to the Civil War Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Patriotic Treason: John Brown and the Soul of America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Liberty is Sweet: The Hidden History of the American Revolution Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5White Lies: The Double Life of Walter F. White and America's Darkest Secret Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/538 Nooses: Lincoln, Little Crow, and the Beginning of the Frontier's End Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5American Republics: A Continental History of the United States 1783-1850 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5River of Dark Dreams: Slavery and Empire in the Cotton Kingdom Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCapital Dames: The Civil War and the Women of Washington, 1848-1868 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lincoln on the Verge: Thirteen Days to Washington Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fall of the House of Dixie: The Civil War and the Social Revolution That Transformed the South Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Birthright Citizens: A History of Race and Rights in Antebellum America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Confederate and Neo-Confederate Reader: The "Great Truth" about the "Lost Cause" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsForced Founders: Indians, Debtors, Slaves, and the Making of the American Revolution in Virginia Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dark Bargain: Slavery, Profits, and the Struggle for the Constitution Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Girl in Black and White: The Story of Mary Mildred Williams and the Abolition Movement Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mirror to America: The Autobiography of John Hope Franklin Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Amistad Rebellion: An Atlantic Odyssey of Slavery and Freedom Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Slave Ship: A Human History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Make Good the Promises: Reclaiming Reconstruction and Its Legacies Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Burr Conspiracy: Uncovering the Story of an Early American Crisis Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Other Madisons: The Lost History of a President's Black Family Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Political Biographies For You
Killing Kennedy: The End of Camelot Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lincoln Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mornings on Horseback Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rage Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Benjamin Franklin: An American Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Peril Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unhinged: An Insider's Account of the Trump White House Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Nazi Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Five Presidents: My Extraordinary Journey with Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Ford Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Watergate Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The White House Plumbers: The Seven Weeks That Led to Watergate and Doomed Nixon's Presidency Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Showman: Inside the Invasion That Shook the World and Made a Leader of Volodymyr Zelensky Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dressed for a Dance in the Snow: Women's Voices from the Gulag Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fear: Trump in the White House Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Benjamin Franklin Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A River in Darkness: One Man's Escape from North Korea Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5We Don't Know Ourselves: A Personal History of Modern Ireland Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5American Ulysses: A Life of Ulysses S. Grant Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Enough Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unbelievable: My Front-Row Seat to the Craziest Campaign in American History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Full Life: Reflections at Ninety Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hatemonger: Stephen Miller, Donald Trump, and the White Nationalist Agenda Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Romney: A Reckoning Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for An Imperfect God
0 ratings0 reviews