Autographed Books

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A Mount Vernon bookplate, signed by Kevin F. Hayes, the author, is included with your winning bid.  George Washington: A Life in Books" is the winner of the 2018 George Washington Prize!  Hardcover

The George Washington Prize is one of the nation’s largest and most prestigious literary awards. A distinguished jury comprised of notable historians Denver Brunsman, Flora Fraser, and Peter S. Onuf, selected the finalists from a field of over 50 books. The winner of the 2018 prize were announced on Wednesday, May 23 at George Washington’s Mount Vernon.

Kevin J. Hayes, Emeritus Professor at the University of Central Oklahoma, now lives and writes in Toledo, Ohio. He is the author of several books including The Road to Monticello: The Life and Mind of Thomas Jefferson (Oxford, 2008) and A Journey through American Literature(Oxford, 2012). He is the recipient of the Virginia Library History Award presented by the Library of Virginia and the Virginia Center for the Book. He is also the recipient of research fellowships from the Boston Athenaeum, the Library Company of Philadelphia, the Lilly Library, the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies, and the Virginia Historical Society.

Kevin J. Hayes' new book, "George Washington: A Life in Books" was recognized as this year's best new book on early American history by the George Washington Prize. The author received the award at a black-tie gala at Mount Vernon on Wednesday, May 23, 2018.

"George Washington is known more for his solid common sense and strength in battle but he also had an active intellectual life that has gone largely unnoticed in conventional narratives.
He read primers, periodicals, conduct books, and classic eighteenth-century novels such as Tom Jones in his early life and his attention to reading and writing continued to grow throughout his presidency and retirement to Mount Vernon. This study of Washington's own library is a glimpse Washington's views on foreign policy, economics, the law, art, slavery, marriage, and religion-and how those views shaped the young nation."

"A Fresh Perspective on America's Father...
 
When it comes to the Founding Fathers, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and Alexander Hamilton are generally considered the great minds of early America.George Washington, instead, is toasted with accolades regarding his solid common sense and strength in battle.

John Adams once snobbishly dismissed him as "too illiterate, unlearned, unread for his station and reputation."

Yet Adams, as well as the majority of the men who knew Washington in his life, were unaware of his singular devotion to self-improvement. In George Washington: A Life in Books, Kevin J. Hayes corrects this misconception and reconstructs in vivid detail the active intellectual life that has gone largely unnoticed in conventional narratives of Washington.

Despite being a lifelong reader, Washington felt an acute sense of embarrassment about his relative lack of formal education and cultural sophistication, and in this sparkling literary biography, Hayes illustrates just how tirelessly Washington worked to improve."

ISBN 978-0-19-045667-2. Copyright 2017. Hardcover with 390 pages including notes and index.

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