The Original Knickerbocker: The Life of Washington Irving by Andrew Burstein

The Original Knickerbocker: The Life of Washington Irving Reviews

• 
  Pedro Trujillo

  The great biography of a great American. Fully academic, the work of a great professor.
• 
  Steve Wiggins

  I’ve read a couple of biographies of Washington Irving, and each was quite good in its own way. Burstein focuses quite a bit on Irving’s political life, especially early on, and it was impressive. These were the days when living in New York City and attending literary events could lead you into the presence of the likes of Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton (although Irving didn’t known Hamilton, he did know Burr). His Hudson Valley contacts brought him into connection with Martin Van Buran. Indeed, he met most of the U. S. Presidents from Jefferson on.
  
  As any biography, this one does focus on Irving’s writings. He was quite prolific after his famous Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon broke the dam. Written from Europe, where he met Sir Walter Scott and several political luminaries, this book seems to have made him realize he could write for a living. Yes, he wrote for money but that doesn’t make him any less of a writer. He eventually shifted to writing biographical histories including those of Christopher Columbus, George Washington (after whom he was named, and whom he once met), and even Mohammed.
  
  Irving wrote his way into society and when his family’s business went belly-up he was able to sustain himself by his pen. As I noted elsewhere
  Sects and Violence in the Ancient World, Irving’s later writings, while earning him a living, never reached the influence of his first two books. His reputation was established before he was forty. He would live, and write, for another thirty-plus years and how he went about it is well documented in this readable, and informative, biography.
  
• 
  Ann Otto

  I wanted to know more about Washington Irving's life after reading the romantic historical scenes he describes in Tales of the Alhambra. His first great work was the 1809 "A History of New York", an historical and political satire of 'lower New York from the beginning of time'. His later "Sketchbook" of short stories, which includes the classics "Sleppy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle", and biographies of Christopher Columbus and George Washington among other works made him arguably the first successful truly American author. We learn of his relationships with many politicians and influencers of his time in America and abroad which included his years as the ambassador to Spain during a period of political unrest in Spain and the U.S. A good read for those interested in American history, literature, biography or politics.
• 
  Kate

  DNF. Even so, I enjoyed what I read. I just found myself less interested in Irving during his middle years.
  
  I grew up with the fantasies of Irving as part of the local tradition. I grew up not far from upstate NY, where Henry Hudson's men bowling where the cause of thunder. I read many of his more familiar stories.
  
  This book showed me that there was much more to Irving that the familiar tales. He was a strong satirist, with a whimsical humor. Growing up in NYC, he used the stories of Dutch colonists to create a past that never was in a humorous history of the Dutch colony of New Netherlands. He and his family were also deeply involved in local politics.
  
  Lot to like there, but I became a bit bored with Washington himself as he became middle aged.
  
  
• 
  Nancy Cook-senn

  Meticulous study of the life and times of a writer, raconteur and traveler who rubbed elbows with prominent people of early New York, Washington and Europe. A nearby historical marker made we want to know how this cosmopolitan man toured Oklahoma in the 1830s, and it’s an interesting episode.
• 
  Elizabeth

  Washington Irving is most famous now as the author of the Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Thanks to Disney, thousands of children have been frightened by the image of the headless horseman coming after Ichabod Crane.
  
  In his own time, Washington Irving was one of the most famous writers of the time. He surprised Europeans by showing that Americans could write well and creatively! Born in 1782, just as the country was pulling itself together, Irving came from a large family which eventually lost its money. He was able to support himself and much of his family by his writing.
  
  This is a wonderful look a the day-to-day life of the period, whether in New York or Europe--or indeed the "west" as he traveled to Ohio. His stories of early New York saved the early Dutch history of the city from being forgotten. His biographies of Columbus and Washington were best sellers in their day. Much of his laudatory prose informed our own views of these two men for decades.
  
  If you like history, give it a peep.
• 
  Tina

  I began to read this book initially because I work at Sunnyside, Washington Irving's Westchester home. I heard wonderful things about the book and the author and was interested in finding out for myself. My co-workers were more than right. This biography of the Father of American Literature is amazing. It contains tons of facts woven together so seamlessly that you don't realize you're reading a biography. Mr. Burstein (Andrew as he is known at HHV) put together such a wonderful book, breaking it up in all stages of WI's life. From his early NY Knickerboker days to his last days at his beloved Sunnyside. WI was involved or at least witness to so many things in history. He was such a remarkable man and writer. I suggest this book to everyone who loves biographies, loves history, loves literature and yes, those of us that still realize how important Washington Irving is to American literature. Fantastic book.
• 
  Amy

  This is a life and an author that everyone in America should study. More recent literary critics have dismissed his writing as too superficial without enough depth on weightier matters. Go read it, go study it and see for yourself. Even a short story like "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" has a richness to the language that envelops the reader and transports them to a lost corner of Dutch colonial New York. His voice invented our language for many subjects back when people weren't sure America had a voice worth listening to.
  
  After reading this book with one of my sons, our whole family went to visit Washington Irving's house that's still there in Tarrytown, New York. It's beautiful, and in the sunlight shining on the Hudson River and that shade beneath the ancient trees, I could almost feel him still there.
• 
  John Thorn

  Just purchased, looks promising. It's amazing to me that Irving, the literary lion of his day, is now neglected while Melville, who went to his death unremembered, is today regarded as our greatest novelist. I have written about both of them in a two-parter on Rip Van Winkle, that most apt metaphor for anyone looking back over an eventful life. See, if you're inclined:
  
  
  
  http://hudsonriverbracketed.blogspot....
  and
  
  http://hudsonriverbracketed.blogspot....
  
• 
  Robert

  So far, so good....I love Washington Irving's stories and have been fascinated with the man ever since I was a boy and learned that he had a hand in designing my grandmother's house, Bolton Priory, in Pelham, NY. This bio does him and the era in which he lived justice, providing wonderful details of the early American republic and paints a vivid picture of some aspects of Old New York. Nicely illustrated, well researched, and not a dry read.
• 
  Steven

  An okay biography, but it's as much a focus on early 19th century politics for New York and the United States as it is a life of Irving. I'd expected more literary discussion rather than politics, but it's a smooth read, regardless.
• 
  Livi

  Ever since I went to Westchester I have been fascinated with Washington Irving. This book is consumingly interesting and gives not only an interesting look at Washington Irving's life but also life in New York during the time period.
• 
  Cindy

  Probably too comprehensive for most except those with a strong interest in 19th century American history and literature. I found many new insights into Washington Irving and his times.