Being George Washington:
The Indispensable Man as
You've Never Seen Him
by Glenn Beck

The life story of George Washington is "a miracle." In Being George Washington: The Indispensable Man as You've Never Seen Him, Glenn Beck brings the "father of our country" and first president to life. He puts the reader in Washington's shoes, complete with dialogue -- based both on the record and logical paraphrasing related to circumstances and context. The book reads like a suspense novel, combining a war story with adventure, heroism, spies and double agents, and hardship beyond the modern-day imagination.

George Washington's success as a commander in war, a Founding Father, statesman and our first president reflected a set of standards that included strong discipline, unbounded courage, a persuasive personality, good judgment of character and, above all, humility before God, or the "Great Author."

The "miracle" to which Mr. Beck alludes lies in the fact that in war General Washington and his men prevailed in spite of overwhelming odds, even with the help of the French and some German mercenaries. Imagine fighting a war with primitive mud roads at wintertime Valley Forge that "brought no clothing, no food, no medicine, no muskets or ammunition -- only carts of corpses."

In addition to the congressional roadblocks, Washington's burden was increased by the fact that some soldiers had "nefarious intentions in mind." There were 2,000 deserters during the Valley Forge winter alone. Add to that the 80 colonists who were British spies. General Benedict Arnold's treason, a focal point in many history books to this day, no doubt was encouraged by congressional politics leading to the promotion of five officers over him, all of them his junior and all less talented. Congress repeatedly ignored Washington's praise for Arnold. But then, add to that the fact that Arnold married into a family of British Loyalists. When the treason was revealed, Washington wondered, "If heroes like Arnold would desert, who is next?" At war's end, Washington's negotiating skills headed off an insurrection by his soldiers, who were angered that Congress had not given them the rewards they had been promised.

The old general then hoped to retire to his Mount Vernon estate but reluctantly agreed to take a leading role at the Constitutional Convention, just as he later would initially decline to become the first president of the United States. But when duty called, Washington answered.

At the founding convention, the delegates were hopelessly divided in a large-state versus small-state battle that threatened to strangle the infant nation before it was firmly established. Suddenly, on a pivotal vote, some key delegates changed sides or conveniently were assigned to other duties. Thus, a compromise was approved. Each state would get two senators, while the House membership would be based on population.

Noting that history has not settled with finality the role that Washington played in all this, Mr. Beck can't quite decide whether "The Great Author" intervened. "[B]ut then if 'the remarkable hand of Providence' was responsible, 'well . . . that is not such a bad thing either," the author opines.

Washington did not liken the American Revolution to the "blood-spattered" French Revolution that followed. The former led to freedom; the latter to anarchy and lack of freedom. The Father of Our Country also warned against excess debt, "the heaviest [tyranny] of them all" -- a timely warning to 21st-century America.

(Threshold Editions, 2011, 351 pp., $26) Reprinted courtesy of the Washington Times.