Editorial Content for Travels with George: In Search of Washington and His Legacy
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
I have been doing online movie and book reviews for about 25 years --- long enough to know that the best place to post movie reviews was a Usenet group that allowed for links into the fledgling Internet Movie Database. During that time, I learned that there are such things as fair criticism and unfair criticism; the latter happens when you complain that your expectations have been subverted.
I am not quite sure what I expected from TRAVELS WITH GEORGE, in which Nathaniel Philbrick, master of the narrative historical form, traces the routes taken by George Washington across the newly created United States in the early years of his presidency. I suppose I should have anticipated something along the lines of Sarah Vowell’s book, LAFAYETTE IN THE SOMEWHAT UNITED STATES, in which she puts a very modern, jaundiced spin on the French patriot and his journeys through revolutionary and post-revolutionary America. Or something elevated, similar to an expert-level class in American history --- like something out of the Ken Burns studio or the Kenneth Clark “Civilisation” series.
"[T]he star of the narrative is not really Washington, Philbrick or the dog. It is the growing country, the fledgling States becoming United... It is these stories that make TRAVELS WITH GEORGE memorable and vital."
What I wasn’t expecting was the story of how Philbrick and his wife took their very active and furry dog on an outing, which led the pooch to jump into a stagnant pond filled with green goo. The Philbricks tried to clean their pet in a hyper-modern, bone-white hotel room, with predictable and messy consequences.
TRAVELS WITH GEORGE is just that, placing the travels (and real travails) of George Washington throughout New England and Long Island alongside trips taken by the Philbricks using the same route (or close enough). There is a lot of history in the book; Philbrick does an outstanding job telling the story of Washington’s first inauguration in New York, detailing the triumphal journey through Philadelphia and Trenton, and the political calculation of the brown suit (crafted in America) that he wore to the ceremony.
All of that is coupled with a good bit of interesting historical travel guidance. There are several places that Philbrick visits where I plan to go myself once we get past the pandemic. But a lot of the story is about the issues that Philbrick, his wife and his dog experience along the way --- including the harrowing tale of their sea voyage from Nantucket to Newport that was interrupted by a tornado of all things.
It is not necessarily bad criticism to point out that if you are someone who would roll your eyes about Philbrick stopping the narrative to tell a (hilarious) story about his dog, you are going to have an issue. But I think it is unfair criticism to say that this sort of thing is wrong, or even self-indulgent. Even if you were to say it is self-indulgent (and you might not be wrong), I mean, come on. This is Nathaniel Philbrick we’re talking about. If you or I had put together a body of historical literature to rival his, we might be self-indulgent, too.
However, the focus of the book, where it should rightly be, is on George Washington. Philbrick quotes the various legends where a young patriot, brought to view the famed general, blurts out that Washington is “just a man.” Philbrick portrays him as very human --- annoyed by sub-par hostelries and snubbed by John Hancock, and subject to disease and tooth decay. And he does not shy away from the long shadow cast over Washington’s reputation by the enslavement of his fellow men and women, focusing on his abuse of his presidential power in attempts to recover a fugitive from Mount Vernon.
Still, the star of the narrative is not really Washington, Philbrick or the dog. It is the growing country, the fledgling States becoming United, the reunions of Washington with his doughty soldiers, the little towns that preserved mementoes of the visit, the young people who remembered seeing Washington for the rest of their lives. It is these stories that make TRAVELS WITH GEORGE memorable and vital.
Teaser
When George Washington became president in 1789, 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 his new government, and to imbue in them the idea of being one thing --- Americans. In the fall of 2018, Nathaniel Philbrick embarked on his own journey into what Washington called "the infant woody country" to see for himself what America had become in the 229 years since. Writing in a thoughtful first person about his own adventures with his wife Melissa and their dog Dora, Philbrick follows Washington's presidential excursions.
Promo
When George Washington became president in 1789, 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 his new government, and to imbue in them the idea of being one thing --- Americans. In the fall of 2018, Nathaniel Philbrick embarked on his own journey into what Washington called "the infant woody country" to see for himself what America had become in the 229 years since. Writing in a thoughtful first person about his own adventures with his wife Melissa and their dog Dora, Philbrick follows Washington's presidential excursions.
About the Book
Does George Washington still matter? Bestselling author Nathaniel Philbrick argues for Washington's unique contribution to the forging of America by retracing his journey as a new president through all 13 former colonies, which were now an unsure nation. TRAVELS WITH GEORGE marks a new first-person voice for Philbrick, weaving history and personal reflection into a single narrative.
When George Washington became president in 1789, 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 his new government, and to imbue in them the idea of being one thing --- Americans.
In the fall of 2018, Nathaniel Philbrick embarked on his own journey into what Washington called "the infant woody country" to see for himself what America had become in the 229 years since. Writing in a thoughtful first person about his own adventures with his wife Melissa and their dog Dora, Philbrick follows Washington's presidential excursions: from Mount Vernon to the new capital in New York; a month-long tour of Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island; a venture onto Long Island and eventually across Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. The narrative moves smoothly between the 18th and 21st centuries as we see the country through both Washington's and Philbrick's eyes.
Written at a moment when America's founding figures are under increasing scrutiny, TRAVELS WITH GEORGE grapples bluntly and honestly with Washington's legacy as a man of the people, 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 he meets reenactors, tour guides and other keepers of history's flame. He paints a picture of 18th-century America as divided and fraught as it is today, and he comes to understand how Washington compelled, enticed, stood up to and listened to the many different people he met along the way --- and how his all-consuming belief in the Union helped to forge a nation.
Audiobook available, read by Nathaniel Philbrick
