"A fascinating account. This is an important book, elegantly written, which adds greatly to our understanding of the way in which one man''s personality and popularity helped create a strong new country out of the fragments of the old colonial system." - Lawrence M. Friedman, Marion Rice Kirkwood Professor of Law at Stanford University and author of A History of American Law "Eloquently written. Larson synthesizes a vast amount of primary source material with great aplomb. Serious scholarship presented in an engaging and concise manner." - Washington Times "Astonishes with continual revelations of a Washington deeply engaged in national affairs and concerned for the floundering United States on the verge of collapse." - Mental Floss "One of the best illustrations of the ability of individuals to change the course of history.

" - Andrew O''Shaughnessy, Professor of History, University of Virginia "Larson is a skilled storyteller combining scholarly research with a flair for relating historical events and personages to general readers. Recommended for those who enjoyed Ron Chernow''s Washington: A Life as well as biography hounds and history buffs." - Library Journal "Fantastic. The Washington who emerges in these pages is always human, flaws and all, and yet he still manages to be a figure worth revering for his unwavering sense of duty." - Daily Beast "Larson is a sure guide through the complexities of writing and ratifying the Constitution. Dramatic. Restoring the politics to Washington''s rise adds motive and depth to the nationalist who rose north to the rescue." - New York Times Book Review "Utterly fascinating.

Very readable and highly recommended." - Journal of the American Revolution "A detailed and elegantly written account of leadership at the most pivotal moment in our nation''s history." - Philadelphia Inquirer "Larson is an exceptionally fine and engaging writer. He has taken up what might seem to be a niche in this great man''s life and career, and found there the core of his personality and his greatness." - Dallas Morning News "A fascinating account of the years in George Washington''s life between the end of the Revolutionary War, and the beginning of his Presidency.This is an important book, elegantly written, which adds greatly to our understanding of the way in which one man''s personality and popularity helped create a strong new country out of the fragments of the old colonial system." - Lawrence M. Friedman, Marion Rice Kirkwood Professor of Law at Stanford University and author of A History of American Law "Deeply researched and certainly persuasive.

A powerful corrective to the notion of Washington as a mere figurehead, Ed Larson-with his signature wit and light touch-delivers a living, breathing man, who is revealed to be a true visionary leader, but who also possesses the political savvy and ability to get things done that is as rare as it is compelling. An important addition to the literature on the Founding of the United States." - Douglas Bradburn, PhD, Founding Director, The Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington at Mount Vernon "Edward J. Larson''s highly readable book brings to the front a little-studied period of George Washington''s life. It''s a well balanced account of a man conflicted by his desire for life at Mount Vernon and his keen awareness of his centrality to the constitutional revolution that dominated the Confederation Period. Larson judiciously clears away the naive myths that have so long obscured Washington''s ideas and role during the 1780s." - Kenneth R.

Bowling, Co-editor of Documentary History of the First Federal Congress and Adjunct Professor of History, George Washington University.