An accomplished Boston real estate attorney in private practice, Henrietta Feldman enjoys reading nonfiction in her free time. Although David McCullough is Henrietta Feldman’s favorite author, she has somewhat mixed feelings about his portrayal of George Washington in his bestselling book 1776.

While McCullough generally depicted Washington as an impressive personage, other experts have painted America’s first president as significantly more insecure and timid. Washington was certainly quite popular in his day, but Guardian book critic Allen Lane criticizes McCullough for failing to explain “why and how” Washington earned such love and adoration from his troops.

However, the majority of critics and readers are complementary of McCullough’s portrayal of Washington as a military leader. The literary authority Book Page praised the author’s attention to detail while charting Washington’s personal evolution into an effective military leader. The book 1776 currently holds a rating of 4.08 out of 5 stars on the independent review site Goodreads.