You Never Forget Your First: A Biography of George Washington
Alexis Coe, 2020
Penguin Publishing
304 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780735224100
Summary
Alexis Coe takes a closer look at our first—and finds he is not quite the man we remember.
Young George Washington was raised by a struggling single mother, demanded military promotions, caused an international incident, and never backed down—even when his dysentery got so bad he had to ride with a cushion on his saddle.
But after he married Martha, everything changed. Washington became the kind of man who named his dog Sweetlips and hated to leave home. He took up arms against the British only when there was no other way, though he lost more battles than he won.
After an unlikely victory in the Revolutionary War cast him as the nation's hero, he was desperate to retire, but the founders pressured him into the presidency—twice. When he retired years later, no one talked him out of it. He left the highest office heartbroken over the partisan nightmare his backstabbing cabinet had created.
Back on his plantation, the man who fought for liberty must confront his greatest hypocrisy—what to do with the men, women, and children he owns—before he succumbs to death.
With irresistible style and warm humor, You Never Forget Your First combines rigorous research and lively storytelling that will have readers—including those who thought presidential biographies were just for dads—inhaling every page. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—N/A
• Where—Southern California, USA
• Education—B.A., University of California-Santa Barbara; M.A., Sarah Lawrence College
• Currently—lives in Brooklyn, New York City, New
Alexis Coe is the award-winning author of Alice + Freda Forever: A Murder in Memphis (soon to be a major motion picture). Coe has frequently appeared on CNN and the History Channel, and has contributed to The New York Times, The New Yorker, and many other publications.
Coe is a host of Audible's Presidents Are People Too! and No Man's Land. Coe holds a graduate degree in American history and was a research curator at the New York Public Library. She lives in Brooklyn, New York (From the publisher.)
Book Reviews
An important achievement. [Coe] has cleverly disguised a historiographical intervention in the form of a sometimes cheeky presidential biography.
Tatiana Schlossberg - New York Times Book Review
In her form-shattering and myth-crushing book… Coe examines myths with mirth, and writes history with humor…. [You Never Forget Your First] is an accessible look at a president who always finishes in the first ranks of our leaders.
Boston Globe
You've never quite read a biography like this. Chock full of remarkable facts about George Washington—and surprisingly easy to read—this one feels more like reading your favorite fiction.
Newsweek
Alexis Coe jolts readers with a fresh retelling of the first president. It’s Washington without the pomp—the United States’ first president like you’ve never seen him before.
Reader’s Digest
[B]reezy yet fact-filled revisionist biograph…. The book’s brisk pace and contrarian perspective leave significant gaps…, but it succeeds in humanizing the Founding Father. Readers who like their history with a dose of wry humor will savor this accessible account.
Publishers Weekly
[This] accessible, humorous work casts Washington in a personal light.… An adept, highly approachable read that will appeal to history buffs and anyone seeking a compact overview of the man and the myth. —Stacy Shaw, Denver
Library Journal
(Starred review) In the insightful and entertaining You Never Forget Your First, historian Alexis Coe moves past the well-worn tropes we’ve come to associate with George Washington… with style and humor…. Coe makes colonial history not just fascinating but relevant.
BookPage
A biography of George Washington that debunks many of the tall tales surrounding his legacy.… The author has clearly done her homework…. Evenhanded and engaging, this biography brings fresh insight to one of America's most written-about leaders.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
We'll add publisher questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, use our LitLovers Book Club Resources. They can help with discussions for any book:
• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)
(Resources by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online and off, with attribution. Thanks.)