Audiobook10 hours
Washington's Farewell: The Founding Father's Warning to Future Generations
Written by John Avlon
Narrated by John Avlon
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
()
About this audiobook
“A vivid portrait…and thoughtful consideration of George Washington’s wisdom that couldn’t be timelier” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review). A revealing look at the first President’s Farewell Address, a still-relevant warning against partisan politics and foreign entanglements.
George Washington’s Farewell Address was a prophetic letter he wrote to his fellow citizens and signed from a “parting friend,” addressing the forces he feared could destroy our democracy: hyper-partisanship, excessive debt, and foreign wars. In it, Washington called for unity among “citizens by birth or choice,” advocated moderation, defended religious pluralism, proposed a foreign policy of independence (not isolation), and proposed that education is essential to democracy. He established the precedent for the peaceful transfer of power.
Washington’s urgent message was adopted by Jefferson after years of opposition and quoted by Lincoln in defense of the Union. Woodrow Wilson invoked it for nation-building; Eisenhower for Cold War; Reagan for religion. Once celebrated as civic scripture, more widely reprinted than the Declaration of Independence, the Farewell Address is now almost forgotten. Yet its message remains starkly relevant today. In Washington’s Farewell, John Avlon offers a stunning portrait of our first president and his battle to save America from self-destruction.
Washington’s Farewell “brings to light Washington’s goodbye by elucidating what it meant not only during the early days of the republic, but its lasting effect through the centuries” (Library Journal, starred review). Now the Farewell Address may inspire a new generation to re-center their politics and reunite our nation through the lessons rooted in Washington’s shared experience.
George Washington’s Farewell Address was a prophetic letter he wrote to his fellow citizens and signed from a “parting friend,” addressing the forces he feared could destroy our democracy: hyper-partisanship, excessive debt, and foreign wars. In it, Washington called for unity among “citizens by birth or choice,” advocated moderation, defended religious pluralism, proposed a foreign policy of independence (not isolation), and proposed that education is essential to democracy. He established the precedent for the peaceful transfer of power.
Washington’s urgent message was adopted by Jefferson after years of opposition and quoted by Lincoln in defense of the Union. Woodrow Wilson invoked it for nation-building; Eisenhower for Cold War; Reagan for religion. Once celebrated as civic scripture, more widely reprinted than the Declaration of Independence, the Farewell Address is now almost forgotten. Yet its message remains starkly relevant today. In Washington’s Farewell, John Avlon offers a stunning portrait of our first president and his battle to save America from self-destruction.
Washington’s Farewell “brings to light Washington’s goodbye by elucidating what it meant not only during the early days of the republic, but its lasting effect through the centuries” (Library Journal, starred review). Now the Farewell Address may inspire a new generation to re-center their politics and reunite our nation through the lessons rooted in Washington’s shared experience.
Author
John Avlon
John Avlon is a senior political analyst and anchor at CNN. He is an award-winning columnist and the author of Independent Nation, Wingnuts, and Washington’s Farewell. Previously, he was the editor-in-chief and managing director of The Daily Beast and served as chief speechwriter for the Mayor of New York during the attacks of 9/11. He lives with his wife Margaret Hoover and their two children in New York.
Related to Washington's Farewell
Related audiobooks
All the Powers of Earth: The Political Life of Abraham Lincoln Vol. III, 1856-1860 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Summer of 1787: The Men Who Invented the Constitution Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Madison's Gift: Five Partnerships That Built America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5William Howard Taft: The American Presidents Series: The 27th President, 1909-1913 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5George Mason: The Founding Father Who Gave Us the Bill of Rights Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5James Monroe: A Republican Champion Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5His Excellency: George Washington Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Washington: The Making of the American Capital Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Washington's End: The Final Years and Forgotten Struggle Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Ascent of George Washington: The Hidden Political Genius of an American Icon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rise to Greatness: Abraham Lincoln and America's Most Perilous Year Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5American Emperor: Aaron Burr's Challenge to Jefferson's America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lost Founding Father: John Quincy Adams and the Transformation of American Politics Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Two Americans: Truman, Eisenhower, and a Dangerous World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Presidential Courage: Brave Leaders and How They Changed America 1789-1989 Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Washington and Hamilton: The Alliance That Forged America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Moralist: Woodrow Wilson and the World He Made Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Franklin & Washington: The Founding Partnership Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Accidental Presidents: Eight Men Who Changed America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Thaddeus Stevens: Civil War Revolutionary, Fighter for Racial Justice Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How Did We Get Here?: From Theodore Roosevelt to Donald Trump Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5America's Great Debate: Henry Clay, Stephen A. Douglas, and the Compromise That Preserved the Union Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5George Washington: The Wonder of the Age Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Thomas Jefferson: American Revolutionary Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Brotherhood of the Revolution: How America's Founders Forged a New Nation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Brilliant Solution: Inventing the American Constitution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lincoln on the Verge: Thirteen Days to Washington Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Grover Cleveland: The American Presidents Series: The 22nd and 24th President, 1885-1889 and 1893-1897 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Seven Events That Made America America: And Proved That the Founding Fathers Were Right All Along Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
United States History For You
Lies My Teacher Told Me: 2nd Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killing the Guys Who Killed the Guy Who Killed Lincoln: A Nutty Story About Edwin Booth and Boston Corbett Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killing the Witches: The Horror of Salem, Massachusetts Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5UFO: The Inside Story of the US Government's Search for Alien Life Here—and Out There Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Book of Charlie Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of September 11, 2001 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/51776 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of the Donner Party Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Land of Delusion: Out on the edge with the crackpots and conspiracy-mongers remaking our shared reality Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Untold History of the United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Astor: The Rise and Fall of an American Fortune Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dragonfire: Four Days That (Almost) Changed America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Letter from Birmingham Jail Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Lafayette in the Somewhat United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Waco: David Koresh, the Branch Davidians, and A Legacy of Rage Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Valiant Women: The Extraordinary American Servicewomen Who Helped Win World War II Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Up From Slavery Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Washington's Farewell
Rating: 4.0625 out of 5 stars
4/5
16 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Brilliant book full of insight. I appreciated the various sources, including the interpretation of the musical Hamilton, to paint a picture of the many reimaginings of this incredible address.
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5The description of this book speaks of Washingtons fears that forecasted would damage "OUR DEMOCRACY" which I found interesting be cause we DO NOT live in a Democracy (In America). We live in a CONSTITUTIONAL REPUBLIC. Washingtons Farewell is inaccurate Propaganda text.