George Washington, Entrepreneur, John Berlau
George Washington, Entrepreneur, John Berlau
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George Washington, Entrepreneur
How Our Founding Father's Private Business Pursuits Changed America and the World

Author: John Berlau

Narrator: Corey Gagne

Unabridged: 4 hr 46 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 06/30/2020


Synopsis

A business biography of George Washington, focusing on his many innovations and inventions.

George Washington: general, statesman...businessman? Most people don't know that Washington was the country's first true entrepreneur, responsible for innovations in several industries. In George Washington, Entrepreneur, John Berlau presents a fresh, surprising take on our forefather's business pursuits.

History has depicted Washington as a gifted general and political pragmatist, not an intellectual heavyweight. But he was a serious inventor and inveterate tinkerer, and just as intelligent as Jefferson or Franklin. His library was filled with books on agriculture, chemistry, and engineering. He was the first to breed horses with donkeys to produce the American mule. On his estate, he grew countless varieties of trees and built a greenhouse full of exotic fruits and flowers. Unlike his Virginia neighbors who remained wedded to tobacco, Washington planted seven types of wheat. His state-of-the-art mill produced flour which he exported to Europe in sacks stamped GW Flour—one of the very first branded food products. Mount Vernon was also home to a distillery and became one of the largest American whiskey distributors of the era.

Berlau's portrait of Washington, drawn in large part from his journals and extensive correspondence, presents a side of him we haven't seen before. It is sure to delight readers of presidential biography and business history.

A Macmillan Audio production from All Points Books

About John Berlau

John Berlau is an award-winning journalist, recipient of the National Press Club’s Sandy Hume Memorial Award for Excellence in Political Journalism, and Senior Fellow for Finance and Access to Capital at CEI. He is a columnist for Forbes and Newsmax, and has contributed to Financial Times, Washington Post, Politico, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Times. He is a frequent guest on CNBC, CNN, Fox News, and Fox Business. Berlau lives in Alexandria, VA, 7 miles from the Mount Vernon estate.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Sherrie on April 07, 2020

***I won this book in a Goodreads Giveaway*** I very much loathe when an author writes a book on a topic only to go off the rails in the final chapter with some only tangentially related hot take. It's lazy and it makes me question the lens with which the rest of the book should be read through. So........more

Goodreads review by Debra on April 03, 2020

I received an advance reading copy of this book from NetGalley.com in return for a fair review. I have been reading a lot about the Revolutionary War lately. This book details the business life of George Washington, which is a little different. There was much more to our first president than a white......more

Goodreads review by Casey on May 18, 2020

This book is a different type of biography on our first president. It focuses on his agriculturals pursuits throughout his life and how he influenced the development of the early food industry in our country. The book is a quick read. I would recommend skipping the last chapter as the author gets on......more

Goodreads review by William on September 02, 2020

This is a fascinating, well-written, and well-researched book about the enterprising side of George Washington. It covers by chapter: Introduction (Washington’s Greenhouse). 1. Iron Roots: How the Washington’s Family Fortunes Rose, Fell, and Rose Again. 2. The Education of an Entrepreneur: An Eightee......more

Goodreads review by Anne on June 12, 2020

"George Washington, Entrepreneur" looks not at Washington's role as president or general, but as farmer and landowner, His curiosity with the world and keen powers of observation helped him see things that could be improved instead of just done the way everyone else did them. This led to gristmills,......more