Travels with George : in search of Washington and his legacy / Nathaniel Philbrick.
"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 reenactors 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: 9780593460214
- ISBN: 0593460219
- Physical Description: xxi, 578 pages (large print) : illustrations, maps ; 23 cm
- Edition: First large print edition.
- Publisher: New York : Random House Large Print Publishing, [2021]
Content descriptions
Bibliography, etc. Note: | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
Formatted Contents Note: | Loomings -- Mount Vernon -- "Wreaths and chaplets of flowers" -- New York -- Dreaming of George Washington -- "Only a man" -- Turf wars -- "A child of God" -- The middle road home -- The spies of Long Island -- Newport -- Providence -- 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 |
Search for related items by subject
Genre: | Biographies. Travel writing. |
Available copies
- 8 of 9 copies available at SPARK Libraries.
Holds
- 0 current holds with 9 total copies.
Other Formats and Editions
Show Only Available Copies
Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Status | Due Date |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Albright Memorial Library | LARGE TYPE 973.4 PHILBRI (Text) | 50686016113214 | Adult Nonfiction | Available | - |
Altoona Area Public Library | LP 973.41092 PHI (Text) | 33240004928837 | Adult Large Print Nonfiction | Available | - |
Dillsburg Area Public Library | Adults 974.3 PHI Large Print (Text) | 34001001403938 | Adult Area | Available | - |
Exeter Community Library | 973.41 PHI (Text) | 33249025316690 | Large Print Non-fiction | Available | - |
Gettysburg Library | LP 973.4 PHILBRICK (Text) | 35740635792625 | Large Print Nonfiction | Checked Out | 04/03/2024 |
Glatfelter Memorial Library | Adults 973.4 PHI Large Print (Text) | 34216001007717 | Adult Area | Available | - |
Lower Macungie Library | 973.41 PHI (Text) | 33400001537490 | Adult Large Print Nonfiction | Available | - |
Martin Library | Adults 973.4 PHI Large Print (Text) | 33454005820964 | Reading Room | Available | - |
RPL - Senior Outreach | LP 973.41 Phi (Text) | 33223008730003 | Large Print Non-fiction | Available | - |