First Entrepreneur: How George Washington Built His – and the Nation’s – Prosperity

Da Capo Press, $25.99, 296 pages
Washington is a colossal figure in the annals of American History. An individual so mythical in his features and actions that it’s almost impossible to remember he was once an ordinary man, entirely divorced from the marble statues we see him as today or the fabled president immortalized in our currency. Edward Lengel’s book  First Entrepreneur attempts to awaken this forgotten dimension of Washington’s personal story.
Washington from the onset knew that his every action was setting a precedent; not only in how he handled himself in office, his determination to leave that office after two terms, and his goal to remain a neutral nation during foreign conflicts, but also in the way he handled his financial dealings and gains while in the presidency. Lengel’s Washington is presented as a figure who married for money and developed into a skilled social climber; someone who reluctantly took up the presidency, actually losing sleep the night he was elected. Washington was a disciplined executive and agribusiness man who innovated his nation’s economics as well as his own. Tragically, by creating both peace and prosperity for his nation, he denied himself both qualities of life.
Reviewed By Robert Buccellato