The Grand Idea: George Washington’s Potomac and the Race to the West --
Joel Achenbach
Simon & Schuster
384 Pages
The main biographies of George Washington are done, and now we’re starting to focus on specific moments in Washington’s life. Frankly, this book doesn’t really tell much about Washington, and it shouldn’t really be included in the Presidential Biographies List. However, I read it and it must be included in the reviews that I am doing for this project. I’ve spent enough time making excuses to read or not to read in this project and I am finally ready to put some serious time into this reading goal.
The Grand Idea by Joel Achenbach tells the story of George Washington’s dream to expand to the western lands. He felt that the mighty Potomac River would aid in that expansion, aided by the construction of a canal with a series of locks. In addition, he envisioned a great capital city on the river from which the government of the new country would lead the nation forward. In his view, the Potomac River would be the lifeline to a United States that evolved ever westward.
This book explores some of the ideas that were planted in Washington’s brain as he surveyed lands in the western parts of Virginia and led troops through the wilds of North America during the French and Indian War. He was looking ahead to the future when he took lands in lieu of payment on some of the surveying work that he did. This would come back to become a legal headache for him when settlers squatted on his land, not knowing that Washington owned the property.
This book does a fine job detailing George Washington’s vision, its high points, and its shortcomings. What he felt should be an easy job, proved to be much more difficult. This history enriches what we already know about Washington. His tenacity to see his projects come to fruition was the focus of this book. Even if there were significant obstacles, he resolutely moved forward.
While this was less of a biography than the other books, it fits well in the scheme. If you’re starting your own Presidential Reading Project, you could skip this one if you needed to, or you could read it as a companion piece to the project. I was interested to learn more about the creation of the canal on the Potomac and the birth of the District of Columbia. In the broad scheme of the reading project, this book did have little impact, but I am glad that I read it.
The Grand Idea by Joel Achenbach tends to be a more peripheral book in Washington’s life. I would give it extra credit for its readability. Achenbach engages the casual reader. It is an enjoyable historical read.
Craig Bacon is feverishly working on improving his reading numbers in this project. He has a long way to go.
NEXT UP: General George Washington: A Military Life by Edward Lengel