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Travels with George : in search of Washington and his legacy / Nathaniel Philbrick.

Summary:
"Does George Washington still matter? The bestselling author argues for his unique contribution to the forging of America by retracing his journey as a new President through the former colonies, now an unsure nation. A new first-person voice for Philbrick, weaving history and personal reflection into one narrative. When George Washington became president in 1798, the United States of America was still a loose and quarrelsome confederation and a tentative political experiment. Washington undertook a tour of the ex-colonies to talk to ordinary citizens about their lives and their feelings about his new government, and to imbue in them the idea of being one thing--Americans. Nathaniel Philbrick embarked on his own journey into what Washington called "the infant woody country"--and to see for himself what it had become in the 230 years since. Writing in a thoughtful first person about his own adventures with his travel companions (wife and puppy), Philbrick follows the tour of America that Washington went on after becoming President--an almost 2,000-mile journey from Mount Vernon to the new capital in New York, a tour of New England, a venture out across Long Island, and into the hinterlands of Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina. The narrative moves smoothly back and forth from the eighteenth to twenty-first centuries, so we see the country through Washington's eyes as well as Philbrick's. Written at a moment when America's foundational ideals--or claims to them--are under scrutiny, Travels with George grapples bluntly and honestly with George Washington's legacy as a man of the people, a mythical figure of the early republic, a reluctant President, and a plantation owner who held people in slavery. At historic houses and landmarks, Philbrick reports on the reinterpretations at work, as well as meeting reenacters and other keepers of the flame. He paints a picture of 18th century America as divided and fraught as it is today, and he comes to understand how Washington entranced, compelled, enticed, and stood up to the many different kinds of citizens he met on this journey--and how through belief, vision, and sheer will he convinced them that they were now all Americans, creating a sense of national solidarity that had never existed before"-- Provided by publisher.

Record details

  • ISBN: 9780525562177
  • ISBN: 0525562176
  • Physical Description: xviii, 374 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm
  • Publisher: New York : Viking, [2021]

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:
Includes bibliographical references (pages [323]-358) and index.
Formatted Contents Note:
Preface: The chariot -- Part I: Inauguration. Loomings ; Mount Vernon ; "Wreaths and chaplets of flowers" ; New York -- Part II: New England. Dreaming of George Washington ; "Only a man" ; Turf wars ; "A child of God" ; The middle road home -- Part III: Into the South. The spies of Long Island ; Newport ; Providence -- Part IV: South. Terra incognita ; The fellowship of the past ; "Follow the yellow brick road" ; "Eleven o'clock Sunday morning" ; "A cat may look on a king" ; Muddy freshets ; "The devil's own roads" -- Epilogue: The view from the mountain.
Subject: Washington, George, 1732-1799 > Travel > United States.
Philbrick, Nathaniel > Travel > United States.
United States > History > 18th century.
United States > Politics and government > 1789-1797.
United States > Description and travel.
Historical reenactments > United States.
Genre: Biographies.
Travel writing.

Available copies

  • 46 of 48 copies available at SPARK Libraries.

Holds

  • 1 current hold with 48 total copies.
Show Only Available Copies
Location Call Number / Copy Notes Barcode Shelving Location Status Due Date
Albright Memorial Library 973.4 PHILBRI (Text) 50686016089208 Adult Nonfiction Available -
Altoona Area Public Library 973.4 PHI (Text) 33240004940311 Adult Nonfiction Available -
Bangor Public Library 973.4 PHI (Text) 75011000361714 Adult Nonfiction Available -
Beaverdale Public Library 973.4 P (Text) 31814450622235 BVRM Non-Fiction Available -
Bethel Tulpehocken Public Library 973.41 PHI (Text) 33249024481248 Non-fiction Available -
Blossburg Memorial Library 973.41 PHI (Text) 30063001044322 Adult Nonfiction Available -
Boyertown Community Library 973.41 PHI (Text) 33249024820270 Non-fiction Available -
Cambria County Library 973.41 P545t (Text) 85131001792911 CACM Non-Fiction Available -
Cresson Public Library 973.4 PHI (Text) 31814610092329 CRSM Non-Fiction Available -
Degenstein Community Library NF 973.4 PHILBRICK (Text) 35031301184780 Adult Non-Fiction Available -


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