George Washington Slept Here: Colonial Revivals and American Culture, 1876-1986

Combining art history, material culture analyses, and social history, Marling examines the image of George Washington in popular culture. She looks at how Americans have in one way or another sought to "get right" with Washington during the past 100 years. Marling points out how Washington is an American hero most closely tied to artifacts, relics, material possessions, and style. She traces the descent of high art into such popular forms as posters, plaques, packages, and billboards, to illuminate how Washington's iconic meaning has influenced styles and tastes. She also shows how politicians seek to co-opt his incorruptible image--in campaigns that celebrated Calvin Coolidge's Puritan simplicity, Herbert Hoover's engineering talents, and in Reagans second inaugural where he is depicted as praying in the snow at Valley Forge. ISBN 0-674-34951-2: $39.95.