Maurizio Valsania
Johns Hopkins University Press
416 Pages
In the course of reading several books about any one person, you tend to like some books, and not like others. First Among Men by Maurizio Valsania, unfortunately is one of those books that just didn’t do it for me. It’s not that it was a poorly written book. There’s simply too much supposition and conjecture in this piece. Valsania, in my opinion, grasps at straws to come to a conclusion he wished to arrive at before he even wrote the first word. He steers the narrative to his preferred outcome. Too many modern moral arguments mar a glance back at the life of George Washington without setting actions into context of the day. That, in my view, is not only poor historical research, it does a disservice to the lives of the people involved.
Let me state right here, that I am not for the deification of George Washington. I’ve said as much in other reviews that I’ve written in the course of this project. Washington was a human being, complete with flaws of character and actions worthy of criticism. So, I’m not giving Washington a free pass just because he was the “Father of the Country.” However, modern sensibilities should have a minimal impact on the life of a person who lived and died over two centuries ago. It would be fine if Valsania used today’s standards to teach how far we’ve evolved (or not evolved) since Washington’s time. Instead, the author uses the differences between yesterday and today as character assassination.
Valsania wants to leave the world of Washington behind. His times are out of date. There is an indirect swipe at the events of yesteryear, as if they have no bearing on today’s world. This is a dangerous practice that has become more popular with so-called historians. There is no such thing as single factor causation, nor are any events isolated. Things happening in today’s world have genesis in occurrences from many years ago, even if trivial. Ignoring ugly parts of history, or making them purposely ugly by making unfair comparisons is a detriment to the broad picture. Valsania is most definitely guilty of this. He is so focused on how people think today, that he doesn’t make the reader think about how life has changed. He simply asks the reader to take him at his word without taking the effort to teach us anything.
Recently, there have been more of Washington’s papers collated, annotated and released, which brought a renewed interest in the life of our first president. I purchased this book with the expectation that there would be new information on George Washington. To say I was disappointed is an understatement. Instead of forging new paths, Valsania instead delivers a narrative of his own rather than one of the man whose life he was supposedly writing.
After my initial high hopes, I have to admit that I was quite disappointed by First Among Men by Maurizio Valsania after I read it. It was definitely a detriment to the reading project about the presidents. It does little, if anything, to the life of George Washington for the reader. Valsania’s adept writing skill cannot overcome the hurdle of simply bad historical practices on his part.
Craig Bacon stands by his convictions that you have to understand decisions made in the times they occurred. You can add modern morals to it only if you use it as a teaching moment. Otherwise, you’re doing nothing productive.
NEXT UP: Travels With George by Nathanial Philbrick