By Joseph J. Ellis. In hardcover, ISBN 1-4000-4031-0, and softcover, ISBN 1-4000-3253-9, with 320 pages including 12 illustrations. Copyright 2004.

Drawing from the newly catalogued Washington papers at the University of Virginia, Joseph Ellis paints a full portrait of George Washington’s life and career—from his military years through his two terms as president. He richly details Washington’s private life and illustrates the ways in which it influenced his public persona. Throughout, Ellis peels back the layers of myth and uncovers for us Washington in the context of eighteenth-century America, allowing us to comprehend the magnitude of his accomplishments and the character of his spirit and mind.
His Excellency is a full, glorious, and multifaceted portrait of the man behind our country’s genesis, sure to become the authoritative biography of George Washington for many decades.