History Time

 The Return of George Washington: Uniting the States, 1783-1789 by Edward J. Larson 

I listened to this audiobook while taking my Granddad on a road trip to visit his baby sister. He had his hearing aids in for the first part of the drive, but I'm not sure if he was listening to the book or not since he made no comments about it. But, that also means that there were parts of the book that I didn't hear due to his commentary, stories, and musings (which are always fun but usually unexpected). With that being said, I did learn a lot about G.Wash and his life in the post Revolutionary War Era. I was a bit surprised that out of his two "adopted" sons he had more of a relationship (via written correspondence) with Lafayette than Hamilton. However, I was not surprised that Hamilton was instrumental in Adams getting the Vice Presidency, and ensuring that the vote was not overwhelming. I liked the use of primary sources throughout this book; some of which I use in my government classes. I think this would be a book that I would buy the physical copy of so that I could annotate it. I can understand G.Wash being a sought after dinner (and ball, play, tea, etc.) guest, I was surprised that he was such a popular dance partner. We all know that B.Frank is a ho, but Washington being so open to frivolity was unexpected. That G.Wash was so aware of how his presence and opinion could sway decisions was exactly what I expected of him. There was a comment during the 3rd part of the book about the egos of the Revolutionary War men and I chuckled at that, because that's not necessarily how they are taught in school (except for Hamilton and Jefferson, of course). Overall, this was enlightening and interesting and was a good choice for the road trip (even if Papaw wasn't paying attention).