By Joseph Manca. ISBN: 978-1-4214-0432-5. Copyright 2012. Hardcover with 329 pages including 32 pages of color illustrations, 144 black and white illustrations, notes, and index.

This richly illustrated book introduces George Washington as an avid art collector, amateur architect, and leading landscape designer of his time. Washington believed that design choices and personal character mesh to form an ethic of virtue and fulfillment and that art is inextricably linked with moral and social concerns. Based on careful study of Washington’s personal diaries and correspondence and on the lively accounts of visitors to the estate, Manca examines how these ideas shaped the material culture of Mount Vernon.