George Washington

Amid bullets and ballots, as commander-in-chief and constitutionalist, political leader and peaceful farmer, family man and father of a nation, here's a very "human" man who won a war and refused a crown; who saw with amazing clarity the future achievements and challenges of a new nation; who hoped to overcome slavery and unite all Americans, while holding that new nation together in its rocky first years by sheer will. By the end, you'll understand why George Washington truly merits the title "first in the hearts of his countrymen."