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George Washington's World: Life Story of George Washington, A wonderful Narratives Explored by the writer

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1942 Newbery Honor Title

The period measured by the life of George Washington, 1732 to 1799, was one of revolution and change in many parts of the world as Enlightenment thinking took hold in the minds of men. Prolifically illustrated with intriguing line drawings and detailed timelines, Foster's telling of the life story of George Washington does justice to the man it celebrates.

When George was a young man, Benjamin Franklin was the most well-known American, Louis XV was on the throne of France, and George II was king of England. Father Junipero Serra had just arrived in Mexico to work with the Panes Indians. Mozart and Bach were writing their immortal music and Voltaire warred with his pen against Ignorance, Injustice and Superstition. The young nobleman Lafayette watched the feisty American colonies with fascinated interest as they stood up to Mother England when she sought to tax them unfairly. James Cook was sent by the Royal Society of London to Tahiti where their team of astronomers might observe a total eclipse of the sun and thereby accurately measure the distance between the earth and the sun.

These are just a few of the wonderful narratives explored by Foster in this engaging biography.

357 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1941

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About the author

Genevieve Foster

51 books59 followers
Genevieve Foster (1893-1979) wrote and illustrated nineteen books of history and biography before her death on August 30, 1979. In 1922, she married Orrington Foster, and they had two children: a boy (named after his father but called Tony) and a girl, Joanna, four years later.

Ms. Foster was fascinated by the idea of looking at history "horizontally" and seeing how events and the lives of people interconnected. "History is drama," she once wrote, "with men and nations as the actors. Why not present it with all the players who belong together on the stage at once rather than only one character on the stage at a time?"

Though she had graduated from the University of Wisconsin and then studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Chicago, she felt her knowledge of history was patchy and so as she often pointed out, "it was my own need to understand how things connected that led me to write my first book, George Washington's World."

This was enthusiastically received and was followed by Abraham Lincoln's World, and then four other "world" books: Augustus Caesar's World, The World of Columbus and Sons, The World of Captain John Smith, and The World of William Penn.

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5 stars
685 (40%)
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557 (33%)
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324 (19%)
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83 (4%)
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38 (2%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 92 reviews
Profile Image for Summer.
1,521 reviews14 followers
May 23, 2023
This book is a fantastic look at what is going on in USA during the American Revolution but also all around the world. We really enjoyed it. It also made me want to read a biography about almost all of the people in the book! 🙃
Profile Image for Sarah.
254 reviews
May 22, 2013
My little brother read this book for school and totally hated it. I assured him that there was no way that it way that it could be as bad as he thought, and decided to read it for myself.
In all honesty, this book could have been really great. Foster has a really vivid writing style, and you learn about a lot of interesting people. The thing that made this book boring and hard to understand was the way the sections were set up. The book would tell you a tiny bit about one person and then a tiny bit about another person, then another person and so on. When the book finally gets back to the original person you can't remember what they did in the last section. By the middle of the book I had lost nearly all interest and ended up skimming. This book would have been wonderful if they had just arranged the stories better.
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Profile Image for Bethanyanne.
149 reviews2 followers
May 5, 2023
Read with my daughter for AO year 4.

This is the best living history book we've encountered so far. I love how it takes the life of George Washington and intertwines other people and events from around the world.

Had I read this in high school, perhaps AP history classes would have been more interesting.
Profile Image for Alyssa Bohon.
472 reviews6 followers
May 19, 2023
This was probably the highlight of our homeschool days for the past school year. Lively, just, fascinating.
Profile Image for Karol.
704 reviews33 followers
October 25, 2015
This is actually quite a long book, but I was completely caught up in it. I actually read in one sitting! I loved the broad sweep of history it gave, across the Americas, Europe, and China, with brief mentions of Japan, India, and Australia too. I made connections between events and people that I had never realized before.

Most history books, it seems to me, look in-depth at one event or a short period of time, in a specific geographical location. Or, in textbooks, chapters are divided up that way. Foster's approach, instead, looks at things very broadly, but not in a lot of depth.

I loved making connections that I'd never made before as Foster shifted from one place to another. (For example, that Johann Sebastian Bach was still living when Washington was born).

One surprise for me was the role that Germans played in the American Revolution. George II was German and in fact barely learned to speak English at all. And then, when England could not find enough men to fight in the war, it hired Germans (Hessians) to fight for them. These were the troops that Washington defeated at the Delaware River.

Because of the broad sweep, there were a lot of unanswered questions in my mind. (Like, how did the German George II become King of England in the first place?) But these I can seek out separately. What I gained was a better understanding of how people and events overlapped across the globe during this period of time.

While it was written for children, I'm not sure how many would have soaked it in from cover to cover as I did. But it's certainly a great resource and I'm glad my library has retained a copy of this older work. It surely must have been an ambitious undertaking for the author.
Profile Image for Antonia.
405 reviews4 followers
October 8, 2019
Read-aloud most of it to my daughter because it can be difficult to follow for kids, but it’s a fascinating account of the time spanning George Washington’s life. Adults will learn much or be reminded of their own history lessons.
Profile Image for Melissa Grice.
179 reviews13 followers
May 10, 2024
I enjoyed the journey through this book with my Y4 student this year. Spanning the years from George Washington’s boyhood to his death, Foster compiles narratives of worldwide events to build a snapshot of what was happening during this period in history. I loved the biographical sketches, as well as learning about discoveries and inventions, voyages and wars, and how it all intertwined. For instance, even though I had learned about the American Revolution and the French Revolution separately, I had no idea how closely the ideas and events of the former influenced the latter. Looking forward to reading more of Foster’s similar books.
Profile Image for Gina Johnson.
586 reviews17 followers
May 21, 2018
AmblesideOnline year 4 book. Foster’s histories use short stories to tell about the things happening around the world during the lives of famous people.
Profile Image for Mariah Dawn.
183 reviews1 follower
May 23, 2024
2024: This was my third time through this book, and I think I enjoy the Foster books more and more every time I read them.

My son gives this book 4 stars.
Profile Image for Zachary.
88 reviews
July 18, 2021
Love the complexity of history. Written in the best way possible, the greatest history book series for lower grades. As King Solomon reflects "There is nothing new under the sun"
Profile Image for Myersandburnsie.
253 reviews1 follower
August 28, 2024
Wow! It took us a year to finish. I kept laying the book aside to follow rabbit trails as Bea was interested.

I really like Foster’s history books. She writes linearly, yet each point in her timeline considers the circumstances of other places/people/ cultures around the world. I especially like her treatment of the French Revolution during Washington’s presidency.
Profile Image for Linda Martin.
Author 1 book89 followers
May 3, 2021
This is a fascinating look at George Washington's life and many others who shared the world with him when he was alive. I read the revised and expanded edition and didn't realize until the end that some of the sections were written and added by Joanna Foster to feature diverse cultures. It was the original by Genevieve Foster that was a Newbery Honor Book in 1942. Joanna is her daughter, an author in her own right.

I very much enjoyed reading this book even though I took it very slow, reading only about four pages daily until I was done. I learned so much that I hadn't learned in elementary or high school. The events of world history during George Washington's lifetime were explained in simple terminology that even an old grandma like me can understand, and I guess kids can understand it too.

The book has inspired me to read more history books. Now I want to have a history book in progress (reading) at all times. I read it as part of my quest to read all the Newbery list books, both medal winners and honor books. I hope to read Abraham Lincoln's World later this year.
Profile Image for Brit Chhangur.
126 reviews10 followers
April 4, 2023
Pre-read for AO year 4, and finished 12 weeks ahead of my history-loving girl! I loved it, and Annie is loving it and we enjoy such good chats about it. Really well-written and really love the concept of covering the history of someone’s life, but zooming out to view the rest of the world too. Looking forward to Lincoln’s World for year 5!
Profile Image for Luann.
1,287 reviews119 followers
September 27, 2010
This is really a remarkable idea for a history book. Genevieve Foster explains in clear, simple language and nice, short chapters the events and people that were noteworthy in George Washington's world - which includes leaders of countries, scientists, soldiers, inventors, philosophers and many others around the world. Each chapter begins with an illustrated two-page spread introducing the people living and the events that took place during that particular time in George Washington's life.

It took me a while to make much headway through this book. I think it was partly due to the short chapters and the switch to a new topic or person with each chapter. It was too easy to read just a chapter or two and then find something else to do or another book to read. Also, I was expecting to read a bit more about George Washington and his life. He is included, of course, but it feels like during much of the book he is merely the device to introduce other people or events. But as I continued to read, I was captured more and more with the events and the flow of history. I enjoyed Foster's explanations of the historical context of events and the reasons behind many of the political decisions made. I was particularly caught up in her descriptions of the French Revolution. And, of course, I did learn a lot about George Washington himself. I wish the book had a bibliography or an explanation of Foster's research for the book. I would love to know how many books she read or consulted in her research.

This won a Newbery Honor award in 1942. Was it a popular book with children back then? I don't know, but I'm sure it didn't hold a candle to another Newbery Honor that same year: Little Town on the Prairie. This would be a great book for students to gain some perspective on history during George Washington's life, but I think it would be a hard book to sell to most students these days. I will soon be reading Foster's Abraham Lincoln's World which also won a Newbery Honor. 3.5 stars.
Profile Image for The other John.
696 reviews13 followers
September 3, 2008
This is the first of Genevieve Foster's World of... books, where the author not only recounts the life of a famous person, but also takes a look at what was happening around the world during their lifetime. In this case we get a peek into the world between the years of 1732 and 1799. It's an engaging book. Ms. Foster presents the information in a nice, storytelling style. I also enjoyed the illustrations, though they vaguely reminded me of the early Wonder Woman comics. The one odd thing about the copy I read is that it had been "expanded" in 1997 by Genevieve's daughter, Joanna. While the extra information, adding the contribution of non-white guys, makes for a richer book, you can sort of see the "seams" of the expansion. The flow between those sections and the older material doesn't always go smoothly. I think it becomes especially notable when slavery is mentioned. In some parts, a person's slaves are mentioned as a matter of course, in others, the notion of slavery is roundly condemned. But that's a small blemish in an otherwise excellent book. Whether it's for your kids or yourself, take time to check it out.
Read
August 15, 2019
I had to read this book for school, it is the third book by Genevieve Foster that I have read. I loved the first two and this one was no different! I really like her writing style and how clearly she tells the stories. She writes her books almost as if they are storybooks, rather than giving you a bunch of random and confusing facts (like most history textbooks these days). These are some of my favorite history books, and I have read A LOT of history books! The last one that I have to read for school is "Abraham Lincoln's World", and I am really looking forward to it! All in all, I'd say this is a great book to read for school or even for fun! :) I highly recommend it!


Profile Image for Michael Fitzgerald.
Author 1 book63 followers
March 26, 2024
I have now twice read this volume cover-to-cover for 8-year-old students going through the first of three passes on the time period. For the most part it is very useful in covering the important world events, but sometimes Foster seems to go on for too long on particular topics. The organization is excellent, dividing Washington's life into when he was a boy, a soldier, a farmer, the commander of the Continental Army, when he was "just a citizen," and then when he was president. We constantly return to Washington, and since he was such an important figure, it does not seem contrived to do this. The stories of others are mostly memorable, getting the names and places into the heads of young students. Specific years aren't overly stressed, but the juxtaposition of events helps keep track of when things were happening. I'll note that we supplement this text with many other books, videos, music, and art. Foster is just the jumping-off point for so much exploration.

There are two indexes included, one for people and one for places, nations, and events. I can't say I have ever used either of these. I could wish for bibliographies both for further reading and for listing what sources were consulted. There are occasionally rough maps found throughout the book, but it would be nice to have an appendix with the world, Europe, the Americas, and Asia at least in reasonable detail. If you don't happen to have a map or globe or an atlas handy, you are sure to find yourself flipping through trying to locate something to make do.

Speaking of maps, it will forever bother me that the copy that I own (first edition?) has the incorrect map of the 13 colonies (p.4), indicating Maine instead of New Hampshire. I mean, come on! This was corrected in subsequent printings. I have to think it was Alice Dalgliesh, children's book editor at Scribner's, who dropped the ball on catching this error. But it was 1941 - maybe we should just be grateful that we got anything. People had other things on their minds. It wasn't until 1944 that the next volume appeared.

I know there are others who still use and love this series. We use the worlds of Columbus, John Smith, William Penn, and Abe Lincoln as well as her Horseless Carriage and Flying Machine books. (Never done ancient history using her Augustus Caesar one, mostly because it is so isolated.) I really wish some ambitious and talented person would write "The World of Winston Churchill" in the same scope and style to cover world history from 1874 to 1965. Then it would be trivial to cover the post-Lincoln, pre-Churchill decade with a short work along the lines of Foster's The Year Of The Horseless Carriage, 1801 (it covers 1801 to 1821). I've had to cobble together a curriculum for the twentieth century, and I miss having an age-appropriate narrative spine for that era.
Profile Image for Melissa.
771 reviews4 followers
September 20, 2017
This is one of the books that I'm reading for my Newbery Challenge; it's nonfiction, history to be exact - somewhat rare among the Newberys. Written in 1941 it was an honor book in 1942 and is an enjoyable read. I like the historical approach a lot, Foster is all about the interconnections so this is not just US history. She touches on events from around the world; given the time she was writing, it's not surprising that she's Western-centric. She is also not without opinions: dislikes the French, really likes the Germans (a bit of a surprise given she was writing in 1941), admires the Chinese emperor, the First Peoples are honorable savages but their land really belonged to the whites, and the Virginians are planters. Planters. Let it sink in. I wouldn't have blinked at that as a child, probably not even as a college student although I have always known the Founding Fathers kept slaves. I just never really thought much about it just like most white Americans. (Thank you Lin-Manuel Miranda. I have just listened to Hamilton again to remind me that the truth has several sides.) There is very little mention of slavery (predominantly how Africans where willing to sell Africans into slavery, how John Paul Jones hated serving on a slave ship, and one mention of slaves in the Caribbean with reference to Hamilton's childhood)and almost none in relation to the Colonies and the new United States. Washington (and Jefferson) had servants by and large: the woman who squealed over him when he was born (midwife/mammy?), Black Peter who admired how he could ride as a boy, Old Bishop who saluted him when he arrived home after the war, and the mammy who stood beside his granddaughter Nelly at Mount Vernon's door. The southern states (except VA) barely get a mention and none with respect to the Declaration. From other reviews I see that this book is being used in home-schooling and that worries me a bit because I'm doubtful that other sources will be used to off-set the mid-20th c biases inherent in this book (I suspect that it's being used specifically for those biases). I read this for my Newbery Challenge and my 2017 Reading Challenge (Read World 52)
Profile Image for Jen.
1,713 reviews7 followers
December 21, 2022
This book described all of the historical events that took place during George Washington's life. It is so beneficial to see all those events in context, and I liked the pages at the beginning of each segment of Washington's life that illustrated the things that would be discussed. I expected more of what life was like at the time, though, and less collection of biographies if all the people making names for themselves at the time.

Slavery was given one brief section, from the viewpoint of a Scotsman who ended up working on a slave ship and quit after two years. All that was mentioned of Washington's slaves were three instances when specific enslaved people were mentioned fondly. Nothing was said about the slaves held by any of the other founding fathers, or of the controversy that slavery was in the Constitution, even though Jefferson was discussed at length. One other nod in the discussion of the cotton gin, "A good Negro could pick 200 pounds of cotton in a day...". Or, an enslaved person was required to pick 200 pounds of cotton a day or would be whipped. None of the individuals or nations responsible for the slave trade were given any responsibility in these pages.
Profile Image for Lauren Fee.
314 reviews11 followers
June 22, 2024
This is an excellent living history book that I can't more highly recommend and I now see why it is so loved. The way the author presented history "horizontally" allowed me to see how events and the lives of people were interconnected. It fostered the similar joy of making connections through a book of centuries page or century chart. I read in the afterward written by her daughter that Genevieve once wrote, "History is drama, with men and nations as the actors. Why not present it with all the players who belong together on the stage at once rather than only one character on the stage at a time." This idea was beautifully executed through this book and I look forward to future Genevieve Foster reads. I came into the book being more familiar with Revolutionary war history, but this book really helped mitigate some of my lack of understanding of the French Revolution as well as the world stage at large during this time period introducing me to many who lived and made their mark during the lifespan of George Washington. I am grateful for her work.
Profile Image for Rebecca.
196 reviews
May 19, 2020
I read this in preparation for my son’s homeschool year of Revival to Revolution through Heart of Dakota. What a thoroughly enjoyable, lively book! The author tells the story of what happened in the world during George Washington’s life by giving short biographical snippets. Some may not like the chronological approach since it interrupts the narrative of, say, John Adam’s or Napoleon’s lives, but I found it to be a creative and refreshing approach to history. The book provides a good balance between American and Western world history; there is minimal information on the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. I will definitely keep this as part of my home library.
Profile Image for Colin.
Author 5 books137 followers
February 16, 2024
We have now read several of Genevieve Foster's "horizontal histories," featuring a detailed biography of a pivotal historical figure (in this case, George Washington) and then telling you what historical events were happening at the same time in their lives (like events in China and India and various counties in Europe at the same time Washington was leading the Continental Army or serving as the first POTUS). It's an excellent approach, and it fit neatly with the history we were studying in our homeschool history curriculum (The Story of the World, part 3, for anyone who is interested). Highly recommended, even though the book is rather dated, now . . .
Profile Image for Rebecca The Files of Mrs. E, .
349 reviews1 follower
August 9, 2024
I really enjoy Genevieve Foster's lateral approach to history. She ties together so many events we learn about in school but don't necessarily connect to one another, allowing kids to see how intertwined history really is. We enjoyed following not just George Washington's life, but also those of all different historical figures. And the chapters added by her daughter fit seamlessly into the overall work. It is a dense book, covering a lot of details, so we found we can only read so much a day. But we are excited to continue and read others by Foster.
Profile Image for Amy Meyers.
731 reviews24 followers
December 4, 2018
We read this to supplement our history curriculum this year. It was wonderful in parts (I'm thinking of Marie Antoinette and parts about Washington in the War), but it could be confusing going between the characters and stories. I prefer Story of the World, but that's more for younger grades. This is an interesting series for junior high or high school as a supplement. I'd rate it 3.5. It was definitely better than Caesar's World, but I can tell the author has some biases I wouldn't agree with.
Profile Image for Amber Scaife.
1,372 reviews16 followers
March 17, 2019
A sort of world history for kids, from 1740-1800, set in the timeline of George Washington's life. I didn't expect much going into this Newbery Honor Book, written in 1941, but I was very pleasantly surprised. It ties world events together quite cleverly, and the narrative style is interesting and engaging. My 10-year-old son is interested in history and I think he'll love this one.
Profile Image for Ian.
81 reviews
April 23, 2020
Gripping and vividly written, GW's World by Genevieve Foster is by far the best history book I have read for school this year.
Ms. Foster combines extraordinary detail (it feels so real you wonder: 'was she there?') with engaging writing that I have never experienced in a history book before.

And when it says George Washington's WORLD, it means WORLD. Foster doesn't miss anything.

5 Stars
Profile Image for Tori.
226 reviews
July 30, 2021
We used this book as part of our history and I really liked the setup and the story snippets from what was happening around the world alongside the American revolutionary era. We didn't make it through everything and I would love a modern author to take the concept and develop it even more diversely.
Profile Image for Lilzzz.
65 reviews
April 12, 2022
Really helpful, got an A on the assignment I had to read this for.

I'm only giving it three stars cause it counts as homework, and I don't like homework.

If you need to write an essay on George Washington, my fellow high schoolers, this book will give a pretty good grade without killing your brain cells!
Profile Image for Sarah B.
109 reviews
June 12, 2023
I've been reading this to my 11 year old for 6 months and am sad to be finishing it. Reading about George Washington's death and burial feels like saying goodbye to a good friend. I learned so much about world history reading this book. There were gaps to be sure, but no book is going to cover everything perfectly.
Profile Image for Bobbiann Markle.
289 reviews6 followers
March 4, 2024
My son (10) gives it 3 stars, but it’s really a great world history book covering from about 1740 to 1799. It is more about the USA than other countries, but does have a lot about the French Revolution and events in other parts of the world. However, the omission of the Acadian Expulsion of 1755 seems like a significant oversight.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 92 reviews

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