Clary begins the book by giving some background about the situation in North America regarding French and English settlers and the various native tribes, setting the scene for the events to follow. He describes some of the competition between the English colonies in America. He also summarizes George Washington's early life. The meat of the book deals with the events of the 1750's, leading up to and encompassing the French and Indian War. Washington does not come off particularly well in much of what happened. He is ambitious, arrogant, defensive, sometimes whiny, and occasionally insubordinate. However, his superiors, notably Dinwiddie, should have known better than to put such a completely inexperienced and untrained young man like Washington in a position of leadership. The book ends with a discussion of the lessons Washington learned during these years when he grew up into manhood, and how these events influenced his later more famous service during the Revolutionary War. There is much more detail about what led up to the war than in anything I have previously read, so what actually happened and why makes more sense to me now.

The writing is clear and easy to read. It is also well researched, with lots of notes and a bibliography. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in early American history. ( )