Penguin Books
304 Pages
If there’s one thing that I’ve noticed in my endeavor to read presidential biographies, it’s that there seem to be very few women authors, especially of George Washington’s life. I’m not sure why that is, but when I saw You Never Forget Your First by Alexis Coe, I knew that this book would definitely have to be a part of the journey. Women and men think differently. A new perspective on the old tales would definitely be a welcome addition to the other books I had on my list.
I wanted to really like this book. From the cover, it isn’t the typical biography of our first president. It kind of thumbs its nose at the conventional retellings of Washington’s life that have dominated the shelves to this point. To me, that unconventional pose could lead to wonderful points of view. Instead, what I took away from this book was a modern analysis of George Washington without much historical context.
Obviously, the full measure of a man requires his life withstanding scrutiny over time, beyond his lifetime, and beyond the lifetime of several generations. Are his deeds still viewed with greatness? Do these good deeds outweigh his bad ones, or vice versa? They all must be taken collectively, not isolated. Our lives are not isolated incidents. Unfortunately, some modern researchers miss that point, focusing on only the negative, from a modern point of view. To be fair, this is a unique juxtaposition with earlier biographers of Washington, who tended to deify Washington and gloss over, or blatantly ignore, some of his lesser qualities. Alexis Coe tends to be one of these modern writers, focusing mainly on the negative, at least in this book. We need to find a middle ground, and not only in writing biographies.
Let’s be clear here. Slavery was, is, and will always be an abhorrent practice. There is no justification. I’m perfectly fine with Coe bringing this to her work. However, it seems to the reader that she measures all of George Washington’s life decisions against this point. It gets tedious by the end of the book.
There are definitely positives to this book. First and foremost, Coe writes an engaging narrative. The tone is conversational and easy to follow. She keeps the reader interested in continuing, even if occasionally frustrated with it. She intersperses some great historical tidbits within Washington’s story. These are done in a fun way. These snippets have been also told in other biographies, but too often in a dried out, bureaucratic way. Alexis Coe breathes new life into these small pieces. It is refreshing, and quite a change of pace from the other biographies that I’ve read.
Overall, I would rank You Never Forget Your First by Alexis Coe as a good book. It doesn’t quite live up to the cover (I know you’re not supposed to judge books by their covers, but…). Still, there are new looks at an old life, which warrant a good, thorough reading. Alexis Coe writes with a precision that endears her to the reader with its ease. While the book loses some of its impact with the repetitive, modern proselytizing, she makes up most of the ground with her intimate and fun looks at some of Washington’s life. This is the one place that she excels over the other biographers that I’ve read thus far.
Further research on Alexis Coe has revealed to me that she has a presidential podcast. This is something that I will have to check out. I’d definitely be interested in hearing more of her take on presidential history. There could be something more that couldn't fit into her book.
Craig Bacon is falling behind on his reading project of all the presidents. It’s time to maybe cut back the list a little. Will his OCD allow that, though?
NEXT UP: The Grand Idea: George Washington’s Potomac & the Race to the West by Joel Achenbach