Edward Lengel's Inventing George Washington could easily have been a boring, whiny book. Lengel, senior editor of Washington's papers at the University of Virginia, offers a history, not of Washington, but of Washington's myth-makers. A less creative author might simply have complained about how no one understands the real Washington but the current caretakers of his papers—and that concern certainly is implied. But mostly, Lengel spins a rollicking tale of the opportunists and outright deceivers who have profited from Washington's memory. In the process, Lengel accomplishes a rare feat: he makes historiography fun.
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