A "distillation" of the author's fourvolume work on the life of the first president of the United States.

A powerful apprenticeship (1732-1753) -- A clumsy entrance on the world stage (1753-1754) -- Love and massacre (1754-1755) -- Desperation and disillusionment (1755-1759) -- George Washington's first war (1753-1759) -- A Virginia businessman (1759-1775) -- Washington in his landscapes (1759-1775) -- A new call to arms (1765-1775) -- A Virginian in Yankee-land (1775) -- An early triumph (1775-1776) -- The Continental Army on trial (1776) -- Depths (1776-1777) Heights (1777) -- The loss of Philadelphia (1777) -- The Conway cabal (1777-1778) -- The road turns upward (1778) -- Hope abroad and bankruptcy at home (1778-1779) -- Enter a French army (1779-1780) -- Treason (1775-1780) -- Virginia endangered (1780-1781) -- Yorktown (1781) -- A gulf of civil horror (1781-1783) -- Goodbye to war (1775-1783) -- Pleasures at home (1783-1787) -- Canals and conventions (1783-1787) -- The Constitution of the United States (1787-1788) -- Hysteria and responsibility (1788) -- A second Constitutional Convention (1789) -- The social man (1789) -- Infighting foreshadowed (1790) -- The great schism opens (1790-1792) -- Europeans and Indians (1783-1791) -- Desire to escape (1791-1792) -- No exit (1790-1793) -- Bad omens (1792-1793) -- Earthquake faults (1793 and thereafter) -- A French bombshell (1793) -- Trouble all around (1793) -- A tragic departure (1793) -- Opposite hands across the ocean (1794) -- The Whiskey Rebellion (1790-1794) -- The Democratic Societies (1794) -- A disastrous document (1795) -- Tragedy with a friend (1795) -- Downhill (1795-1796) -- Washington's farewell address (1796) -- The end of the presidency (1796-1797) -- Home again (1797-1799) -- Mental confusion (1797-1798) -- Politics at sunset (1798-1799) -- Washington and slavery (1732-1799) -- Death of a hero (1799).