We’ve all heard the mythology around George Washington: He never told a lie! He had wooden teeth! There was a cherry tree that one time!

But in her new biography, You Never Forget Your First, historian Alexis Coe revisits the origins of those myths and explores aspects of George Washington that may have been brushed over or misconstrued.

Coe talked with Nerdette host Greta Johnsen about what surprised her most about our first president, about the unfair portrayals of Washington’s mother and why it’s important for women to write presidential histories.