PENGUIN BOOKS

An imprint of Penguin Random House LLC

penguinrandomhouse.com

First published in the United States of America by The Penguin Press, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. 2010

Published in Penguin Books 2011

Copyright © 2010 by Ron Chernow

Penguin supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin to continue to publish books for every reader.

Illustration credits appear here .

eBook ISBN: 9781101444184

THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS HAS CATALOGED THE HARDCOVER EDITION AS FOLLOWS:

Chernow, Ron.

Washington : a life / Ron Chernow.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN: 9781594202667 (hc.)

ISBN: 9780143119968 (pbk.)

1. Washington, George, 1732–1799. 2. Presidents—United States—Biography. I. Title.

E312.C495 2010

973.4’1092—dc22

[B]

2010019154

Cover design: Evan Gaffney Design

Cover painting: Rembrandt Peale, Washington Before Yorktown , 1824; reworked 1825. Oil on canvas, 138 x 120 ½ inches. Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Gift of the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, Mount Vernon, Virginia. 44.1