“A vivid portrait…and thoughtful account of George Washington’s intelligence that couldn’t be timelier” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review). A uncovering go through the 1st President’s Farewell Address, a still-relevant caution against partisan politics and international entanglements.

George Washington’s Farewell Address was a prophetic letter he wrote to his fellow people and signed from a “parting friend,” addressing the forces he feared could destroy our democracy: hyper-partisanship, excessive about Washington’s Farewell: The Founding Father’s Caution to Future Decades debt, and international wars. In it, Washington called for unity among “residents by delivery or choice,” advocated moderation, defended religious pluralism, proposed a foreign policy of self-reliance (not really isolation), and proposed that education is essential to democracy. He founded the precedent for the tranquil transfer of power.

Washington’s urgent message was adopted by Jefferson after years of opposition and quoted by Lincoln in defense of the Union. Woodrow Wilson invoked it for nation-building; Eisenhower for Chilly War; Reagan for religious beliefs. Once celebrated as civic scripture, more widely reprinted compared to the Declaration of Self-reliance, the Farewell Address is currently almost forgotten. Yet its message remains starkly relevant today. In Washington’s Farewell, John Avlon offers a stunning family portrait of our 1st president and his fight to save lots of America from self-destruction.

Washington’s Farewell “brings to light Washington’s goodbye by elucidating what it meant not only during the start of the republic, but its long lasting impact through the decades” (Library Journal, starred review). Right now the Farewell Address may inspire a fresh era to re-center their politics and reunite our country through the lessons rooted in Washington’s distributed experience.