First Family: George Washington's Heirs and the Making of America
SKU 34299
Original price
$32.99
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Original price
$32.99
Original price
$32.99
$32.99
-
$32.99
Current price
$32.99
2024 George Washington Prize FinalistÂ
Award-winning historian Cassandra A. Good shows how the outspoken stepgrandchildren of George Washington played an overlooked but important role in the development of American society and politics from the Revolution to the Civil War.
While itâs widely known in America that George and Martha Washington never had children of their own, few are aware that they raised numerous children together. In First Family, we see Washington as a father figure, as well as meet the children he helped raise and trace their complicated roles in American history.
The children of Martha Washingtonâs son by her first marriageâEliza, Patty, Nelly and Wash Custisâwere born into life in the public eye. Raised in the countryâs first âfirst family,â they remained well-known as Washingtonâs family and keepers of his legacy throughout their lives. By turns petty and powerful, glamorous and cruel, the Custises used Washington as a means to enhance their own power and status. As enslavers committed to the American empire, the Custis family embodied the failures of the American experiment that finally exploded into civil warâall the while being celebrities in a soap opera of their own making.
First Family brings new focus and attention to this surprisingly neglected aspect of George Washingtonâs life and legacy. As the country grapples with concerns about political dynasties and the public role of presidential families, the saga of Washingtonâs family offers a human story of historical precedent.
While itâs widely known in America that George and Martha Washington never had children of their own, few are aware that they raised numerous children together. In First Family, we see Washington as a father figure, as well as meet the children he helped raise and trace their complicated roles in American history.
The children of Martha Washingtonâs son by her first marriageâEliza, Patty, Nelly and Wash Custisâwere born into life in the public eye. Raised in the countryâs first âfirst family,â they remained well-known as Washingtonâs family and keepers of his legacy throughout their lives. By turns petty and powerful, glamorous and cruel, the Custises used Washington as a means to enhance their own power and status. As enslavers committed to the American empire, the Custis family embodied the failures of the American experiment that finally exploded into civil warâall the while being celebrities in a soap opera of their own making.
First Family brings new focus and attention to this surprisingly neglected aspect of George Washingtonâs life and legacy. As the country grapples with concerns about political dynasties and the public role of presidential families, the saga of Washingtonâs family offers a human story of historical precedent.