New ‘Must Read’ Book Alert – George Washington’s America by Barnet Schecter

By Armchair General

Barnet Schecter, ACG Advisory Board member and author of several articles that have appeared in Armchair General magazine has an outstanding new book being released in October. George Washington’s America: A Biography Through His Maps (Bloomsbury-Walker) is a unique biography of our first President inspired by the maps he used throughout his life and offers new insight into the historical events of his era.

The publisher’s website (walkerbooks.com) contains this description of Schecter’s upcoming ‘must read’ book:

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“From his teens until his death, the maps George Washington purchased and drew were always central to his work ― as surveyor, military leader, private citizen, and statesman. After his death, many of the most important maps he had acquired were bound into an atlas, which remained in his family for almost a century before it was sold and eventually ended up at Yale University’s Sterling Memorial Library.

Inspired by this atlas, historian Barnet Schecter has crafted a unique portrait of America’s preeminent founder, interweaving twenty-six of the full maps and some two hundred additional detail views into a full chronicle of Washington’s life. The maps reveal Washington’s deep and abiding connection to the land and his lifelong focus on geography as a way of understanding the world.

In addition to the atlas maps and details, a dozen of Washington’s own hand-drawn maps enrich his story. These include his first survey, done at age fifteen, of his brother’s turnip patch; an evocative rendering of his own lands along the Ohio River; a sketch of the townhouses he owned in the District of Columbia; and the splendid survey he completed of his estates at Mount Vernon. Portraits of many of the notable figures with whom Washington interacted ― whose exploits also play out on the maps ― add resonance the saga of his life and times.

By allowing readers to visualize history through Washington’s eyes, to see events as they unfolded on the maps he studied, George Washington’s America offers a unique perspective on history, and important new insight into Washington’s character and his transformation from private citizen to founding father.”

Schecter is the author of the critically-acclaimed books: The Devil’s Own Work: The Civil War Draft Riots and the Fight to Reconstruct America and The Battle for New York: The City at the Heart of the American Revolution, both of which he adapted as articles in Armchair General.

Scheduled Book Launch Events with Schecter:

— October 28, 2010 (6pm): New York Historical Society (nyhistory.org)

–November 17, 2010 (6pm): American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia (amphilsoc.org)

–November 20, 2010 (6pm): Politics and Prose bookstore, Washington, D. C. (politics-prose.com)

Other Upcoming Schecter Personal Appearances:

–June 25-27, 2010: Schecter will lead a tour entitled “Great Cities of American History: New York — A Field and Walking Tour.” Includes a Saturday tour of the battle for New York in the American Revolution, and a Sunday boat and bus tour of Civil War New York. Details, fee information and registration are at the Civil War Education Association Website (cwea.net/2010tours).

–August 29, 2010 (10am): Schecter and Jeff Richman will lead their annual trolley tour of the Revolutionary War battlefield in Green-Wood Cemetery, Greenwood Heights, Brooklyn, New York. The Battle of Brooklyn was the largest battle of the American Revolution and the first battle in U. S. history. Details on obtaining tickets for the tour may be found at green-wood.com or phone 718-768-7300 for reservations.

ACG highly recommends Schecter’s new book, and encourages history fans who are able to do so to attend his personal appearances – you won’t be disappointed!