Art and myth in the establishment of the US

Review of Cincinnatus: George Washington and the Enlightenment by Garry Wills

Garry Wills has an unmatched talent for making erudite connections in a highly readable way. In this book, he explores the images (much-needed symbols of stability for a new form of government) that were employed for political purpose in both the American and French Revolutions. They were largely the products of the secular Enlightenment, where reason a…