Download or read book The Grand Idea written by Joel Achenbach and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2004 with total page 414 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Looking down upon the Potomac from his verandah at Mount Vernon, recently retired General George Washington imagined a route through the mountains to the vastness of the West. He was wrong about the river, but not about his country's destiny.