Remarkable Americans: The Washburn Family - Hardcover

* "...presents a `narrative of big dreams' that reflects the physical and economic expansion of nineteenth-century America, and the Washburns' achievements spring to life." --Publishers Weekly * "Here for the first time is the comprehensive chronicle of one of the most significant American families of all time--the ten Washburn brothers and sisters, who rose from the obscurity of nineteenth-century rural Maine poverty to the pinnacles of economic, military, and political success. This is a uniquely American story, told with the proper balance between intriguing personal detail and broad national perspective." --Earle G. Shettleworth, Jr., Maine State Historian * "...ambitious, consistently engaging...." --Kirkus Reviews * "What Kelsey does with such distinction is to bring the family alive as a band with shared DNA, who live up to their collective familial values of hard work, diligence, and ambition. Readers of Remarkable Americans will also enjoy the social and political context for this mobile family's achievements, which Kelsey unravels with perception." --Jean Baker, Professor of History, Goucher College, author of Sisters: The Lives of America's Suffragists; James Buchanan; Mary Todd Lincoln: A Biography

After a career in textbook publishing and banking, Kerck Kelsey received a Master's Degree in History from Harvard University just before his seventieth birthday. He wrote his thesis on the eldest Washburn brother, Israel Jr. It was later published as Israel Washburn, Jr.: Maine's Little-Known Giant of the Civil War.