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Table of Contents
About The Book
Achenbach captures a Washington rarely seen: rugged frontiersman, real estate speculator, shrewd businessman. Even after his death, Washington's grand ambition inspired heroic engineering feats, including an audacious attempt to build a canal across the mountains to the Ohio River. But the country needed more than commercial arteries to hold together, and in the Civil War, the general's beloved river became a battlefield between North and South.
Like such classics as Undaunted Courage and Founding Brothers, Achenbach's riveting portrait of a great man and his grand plan captures the imagination of the new country, the passions of an ambitious people, and the seemingly endless beauty of the American landscape.
Product Details
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster (June 2, 2005)
- Length: 384 pages
- ISBN13: 9780743263009
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Raves and Reviews
"Truly riveting....Achenbach allows the reader to understand the real Washington in so many new ways he literally grows in stature."
-- Douglas Brinkley, The Boston Globe
"A magnificent display of impeccable scholarship blended with incomparable storytelling."
-- Fort Worth Star-Telegram
"This is history as storytelling, driven by personalities and ideas."
-- USA Today
"Reveals a dimension of the man not often seen -- that of Washington as a dreamer....He too had dreams, and happily for readers, Achenbach rediscovers them."
-- The Washington Monthly
Resources and Downloads
High Resolution Images
- Book Cover Image (jpg): The Grand Idea Trade Paperback 9780743263009
- Author Photo (jpg): Joel Achenbach Photo credit: Julia Ewan(0.9 MB)
Any use of an author photo must include its respective photo credit