This encyclopedia offers an A-Z retrospective of George Washington's life, career, and historical significance, based in large part on Washington's own words and those of his contemporaries.

George Washington dominated his era like few other Americans. Yet the complexity of the historic events he was involved in and the sheer magnitude of his correspondence-the most voluminous in colonial America-can be overwhelming for researchers.

The goal of this volume is to make the larger-than-life figure of George Washington accessible to modern researchers. In its 200 entries readers will discover a detailed and surprising portrait. Washington was not a cold, aloof, and unknowable man, but was extremely convivial by nature; a general who commanded the Continental army without pay but was a better administrator than military strategist; a man of deeds whose appearance was, according to one contemporary, "truly noble and majestic;" a man known to his contemporaries for his complete honesty.