What is there left to write about George Washington? What insights can be gleaned about a man who has been the subject of centuries of biographies—many devoted to bringing the “flesh and blood” Washington to life—yet who still seems, in his “icy majesty,” to stand above and apart from us?

Some have attempted to cut him down to size by portraying him as considerably less than a god, a privileged white landowner who advanced his career on the backs of his slaves’ labor, blundered as a military leader, and failed to protect Native Americans as their Great White Father. Others have deplored his explosions of anger and thin-skinned obsession with reputation, and accused him of twisting every action of his public life into a self-serving maneuver to gain power and fame.