A Founding Father, a patriot in the Revolutionary War, a delegate from Virginia to the Constitutional Convention, and one of the driving forces behind the creation of the U.S. Bill of Rights, George Mason (1725-1792) worked passionately and diligently throughout his life, both as a private citizen and as a public servant, to ensure that government protected the inherent rights of the people. The Five George Masons, first published in 1975, provides a comprehensive overview of five generations of the Mason family, beginning with George Mason I, who fled England following the defeat of the Royalists at the second battle of Worcester in 1651, arriving in the Colony of Virginia in the early 1650s. Central to this volume, of course, is George Mason IV, who, while less celebrated than his fellow Virginians George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, was one of America’s outstanding thinkers, legislators, and writers; his ideals and legacy endure to this day. This second edition includes a new foreword as well as color photos and maps, while faithfully reproducing the original edition’s unique genealogical charts of the Mason family. In tracing the family history of the Masons, the book provides important context for understanding the life and work of George Mason IV, who wrote: "All men are by nature equally free and inde¬pendent, and have certain inherent rights." The Five George Masons serves as a uniquely valuable resource for histo¬rians, educators, genealogists, and all those interested in the history of Virginia and the early United States. Distributed for the George Mason University Press

George Mason (1725-92) is often omitted from the small circle of founding fathers celebrated today, but in his service to America he was, in the words of Thomas Jefferson, "of the first order of greatness." Jeff Broadwater provides a comprehensive account of Mason's life at the center of the momentous events of eighteenth-century America. Mason played a key role in the Stamp Act Crisis, the American Revolution, and the drafting of Virginia's first state constitution. He is perhaps best known as author of the Virginia Declaration of Rights, a document often hailed as the model for the Bill of Rights. As a Virginia delegate to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Mason influenced the emerging Constitution on point after point. Yet when he was rebuffed in his efforts to add a bill of rights and concluded the document did too little to protect the interests of the South, he refused to sign the final draft. Broadwater argues that Mason's recalcitrance was not the act of an isolated dissenter; rather, it emerged from the ideology of the American Revolution. Mason's concerns about the abuse of political power, Broadwater shows, went to the essence of the American experience.

George Mason was a short, bookish man who was a friend and neighbor of athletic, broad-shouldered George Washington. Unlike Washington, Mason has been virtually forgotton by history. But this new biography of forgotten patriot George Mason makes a convincing case that Mason belongs in the pantheon of honored Founding Fathers. Trained in the law, Mason was also a farmer, philosopher, botanist, and musician. He was one of the architects of the Declaration of Independence, an author of the Bill of Rights, and one of the strongest proponents of religious liberty in American history. In fact, both Thomas Jefferson and James Madison may have been given undue credit for George Mason's own contributions to American democracy.

Finally, in chronicling Mason's disappointment in the face of the Confederacy's defeat, Young evokes the enormous sense of loss that accompanied the passing of the Old South's way of life.

One of the biggest draws on the sports calendar, the NCAA men's basketball tournament routinely thrills fans with "bracket buster" upsets. From Loyola Marymount's emotional 1990 run following the death of team leader Hank Gathers to UMBC in 2018 becoming the first 16-seed to defeat a 1-seed, March Madness holds the sporting world captive for a few weeks each year and changes the lives of players. Drawing on dozens of original interviews, this book chronicles the tournament's many underdog tournament runs, with insights into the teams beyond their exploits on the hardwood.

A biography of George Mason, author of the Virginia Declaration of Rights, which was a model for the Bill of Rights of the United States Constitution, and member of a group that provided much of the structure for the independence movement and, later, the Constitution.