Mount Vernon, a Beautiful Evening, and a $50,000 History Prize

It’s tough to say what or who was more impressive—the
cocktails on the windswept lawn of Mount Vernon Estate, the guests
in formal dress, the golden late afternoon light, the views of
the shimmering Potomac, or the evening’s honoree, who got her
undergraduate degree at Harvard, her master’s at Oxford and her
PhD at Yale. Let’s say it was a draw, because all were tough
acts to beat and all complemented one another.

The occasion was the eighth annual George Washington
Book Prize dinner, hosted by Washington College of Chestertown,
Maryland;
the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History; and the Mount
Vernon Ladies’ Association, a formidable nationwide group
that has kept the historic estate viable for more than 150
years.

Out of four dozen nominees and three finalists, the $50,000 prize was awarded to
Maya Jasanoff, an associate professor of history at Harvard. Her book,
Liberty’s Exiles: American Loyalists in the Revolutionary World,
was lauded for its research, concept, perspectives and “enviable prose
style and penetrating insights” by the jury that
determined the prize’s finalists. It focuses on a niche piece
of the American Revolution, the approximately 60,000 American
“loyalists” who doubted their future in the new nation and
departed US shores for exile in British territories such as Canada,
Jamaica, the Bahamas, and India.

The other two finalists were
John Fea for
Was America Founded as a Christian Nation? and
Benjamin H. Irvin for
Clothed in Robes of Sovereignty: The Continental Congress and the People Out of Doors.

Washington is a town of perks, but few compare to
cocktails on the lush green front lawn of Mount Vernon Estate on one of
the prettiest evenings of the year. The view toward Maryland is
still uncompromised by modern times; what you see is probably
what George and Martha Washington saw, river and woods. Another
perk was that the mansion was open for guests to walk through
at their leisure. Standing in the room where Washington died in
1799, looking at the simple four-poster bed upon which he
took his last breaths, will never be uninteresting. Being there
without a crush of tourists allows for some quiet reflection.

The guests, numbering not much more than 100, stood on
the lawn, sipping and talking, while nearby a large flock of geese
waited patiently, as if to indicate we were in their spot and
were it not for this fancy event they would be enjoying their
evening ritual, alone. After the book prize winner was
announced, a marching band came through and guided everyone along a
path to the dinner in the glass-walled Ford Orientation Center.
Fife and drum would have been expected, but the compositions
of John Philip Sousa were rousing. The menu, too, was not 18th
century, but no doubt George Washington, the sustainable farmer,
would be pleased with the salad of spring asparagus. It was
followed by surf and turf: rockfish and filet mignon. Dessert
was chocolate tart.

Speeches were threaded through the meal, along with a number of introductions. Top dog on the guest list was Supreme Court
Justice
Samuel Alito. Also there was Judge
Richard Bennett of the US District Court for Maryland;
Edwin S. Grosvenor, great-grandson of Alexander Graham Bell;
Gary N. Geisel of M&T Bank; Maryland’s state archivist,
Edward Papenfuse; several out-of-state members of the Ladies’ Association; historians; and officials from the sponsoring organizations.

“I’m a writer of history, and I want to thank the
other writers of history in this crowd,” said Jasanoff. “I’m drawn to
things
that challenge our expectations—the unfamiliar parts.” She said
that to research the book she went everywhere the loyalists
went: Shelburne, Nova Scotia; Brantford, Ontario; Jamaica and
the Bahamas; and Ghazipur, India. “What’s the takeaway?” she
asked, and then answered her own question: “History is written
by the winners and often forgotten by the losers. Any loser’s
story deserves a fair hearing. This is a history of America in
the world.” Then, noting the location of the dinner and the
prize’s namesake, Jasanoff concluded, “George Washington’s
great achievement was to make one nation out of people who fought
a civil war. Remembering there is not just one way to be
Americans, I’m very proud to be a loyal American tonight of all nights.”