(11-12-2017, 09:18 AM)The Real Marty Wrote:

(11-12-2017, 08:50 AM)americus 2.0 Wrote: That sounds intriguing. We always seem to hold these fellows up to such lofty standards, and for good reason for the most part, but they were just as human as we are. I may have to look into this. I haven't read a book based on history in a couple of years.

If you want to read a good history book, read "Washington: A Life" by Ron Chernow.   It's a very long book, but the life of George Washington is so impressive, really an astoundingly impressive life of great courage, sacrifice, and achievement.  Chernow makes him a real human being, warts and all, brings him down off that marble statue.  But after reading that book I was convinced that George Washington was one of the greatest people ever.  He led a rag-tag army against the greatest superpower of the age for eight years, held the American revolution together through enormous hardships by sheer force of will and great leadership, then willingly gave up power when people were offering him a crown, which set us up for the elected civilian leadership we have today, then went on to become unanimously elected first President, and set all the precedents that our Presidents operate under now, and then willingly gave up power again and retired.  He was the greatest American ever.

He may have been the greatest and most impactful person of his lifetime worldwide.
Consider this: one reason the British were able to defeat the French in what we call the French and Indian War was they had much more ammunition.  The British had managed to get massive new supplies of gunpowder from India.  They did not really dominate all of India yet at that time, but they were able to extract a lot of stuff.  
So the question in my mind is, what if a man of Washington's character and stature had been born in India, rather than in America?  Would America end up more like Mexico, so divided and so corrupt, while India might be rich, and united, with much less religious prejudice?  How much really turns on one man? In this case, I think, quite a bit.

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