Rules of Civility: The 110 Precepts That Guided Our First President In War and Peace by Richard Brookhiser (HC/DJ)

In the early eighteenth century, a young George Washington copied out by hand 110 rules for civil behavior in a little notebook. These rules, borrowed from a text used by generations of Jesuit tutors, provided a common-sense framework for any young gentleman who hoped to rise in society. Washington took these rules very much to heart; he carried the hand-written list throughout his life, from the coldest day at Valley Forge to the triumph at Yorktown, and through all eight years of his distinguished presidency.