Review by D.H.T. Shippey

When George Washington wrote his will, he explicitly laid out a plan to set his slaves free and provide for their future. This fact alone makes a book about Washington and the slaves in his life an important work.

  Henry Wiencek’s An Imperfect God: George Washington, His Slaves, and the Creation of America was the first book ever to focus on this important subject.  It is also, surprisingly, still the only book to do so. In his book Wiencek drifts between deep scholarly research, hearsay, speculation, and even his own personal experiences. It is an uneven read. Much of the book is fascinating, parts of the book are frustrating, and bits are downright infuriating. At times, for no perceptible reason, the book leaves Washington altogether to follow later descendants. Missing is any illumination (and almost any mention) on the subject of Billy Lee.  Lee, who was at Washington’s side through the Revolutionary War and was the most famous American of African decent of his time. While the book does show Washington’s evolving attitudes toward slavery and the slaves themselves, Wiencek’s ricocheting time line makes it hard to find continuity in the story. We never do hear how the plans Washington made in his will for housing and vocational training for the liberated slaves worked out, and the book’s last words are, illogically, those of Abraham Lincoln. I’m still trying to figure out where the editor was on that one.