Nathaniel Philbrick grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and earned a BA in English from Brown University and an MA in America Literature from Duke University, where he was a James B. Duke Fellow. He was Brown University’s first Intercollegiate All-American sailor in 1978, the same year he won the Sunfish North Americans in Barrington, Rhode Island. After working as an editor at Sailing World magazine, he wrote and edited several books about sailing, including The Passionate Sailor, Second Wind, and Yaahting: A Parody. In 2000, Philbrick published the New York Times bestseller In the Heart of the Sea, which won the National Book Award for nonfiction. The book is the basis of the Warner Bros. motion picture Heart of the Sea, directed by Ron Howard and starring Chris Hemsworth, Cillian Murphy, Brendan Gleeson, Benjamin Walker, Ben Wishaw, and Tom Holland. The book also inspired a 2001 Dateline special on NBC as well as the 2010 two-hour PBS American Experience film Into the Deep by Ric Burns. Philbrick’s writing has appeared in Vanity Fair, The New York Times Book Review, The Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Boston Globe. He has appeared on the Today show, The Morning Show, Dateline, PBS’s American Experience, C-SPAN, and NPR. He and his wife live on Nantucket.
“Both a lighthearted travelogue and a timely exploration of
Washington’s historical legacy.” —The Wall Street Journal
“Philbrick’s book addresses weighty matters but is nevertheless an
enjoyable read, a fitting if unusual capstone to
a trilogy on the revolution. At times, the book seems
like a valedictory. The author’s many readers hope not.” —The
Guardian (London)
“In Travels with George: In Search of Washington and His Legacy,
his thirteenth book, Nathaniel Philbrick brings his proven gift as
a narrator to this on-the-road part of Washington’s life.” —The
Washington Post
“Drawing unnerving parallels to the nation’s current political
landscape, the writer shows how the lessons taught by the ‘father
of our country’ are still relevant today.” —Smithsonian
“This delightful book retraces the journey of George Washington
across the former colonies shortly after his inauguration. It’s a
meditation on our first president’s continued relevance to the
American identity.” —The Christian Science Monitor
“Part history, part travelogue . . . Philbrick wrestles with
[America’s] problems, some of Washington’s vintage, that continue
to afflict us.” —The New York Times
“Philbrick retraces three trips that George Washington took during
his presidency. . . . Through the pieces, a valuable view of
Washington emerges . . . a man of physical grace and character
who grasped the personal effect he had on people.” —AirMail.com
“Regardless of the readers’ preconceived notions about our first
president, enough new facts are revealed and old myths dispelled to
keep the pages turning rapidly.” —Lincoln Journal Star
“An enjoyable volume that is one-third history, one-third
travelogue, and one-third meditation on what Washington means in
the twenty-first century.” —Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
“Washington emerges as the complicated, flawed but no less heroic
leader that his newborn country desperately needed. . . . The
quantity and quality of the details Philbrick gathers as he
straddles past and present make this an extraordinary read.”
—BookPage
“Nat Philbrick brings three key attributes to this brilliant book:
a deep grounding in colonial history; amusing personal anecdotes
observed with a shrewd traveler’s eye; and an abiding love of this
quirky, unique nation. Travels with George is all the more crucial
in this time of national division, when a look back to a unifying
figure like our first President matters all the more.” —Admiral
James Stavridis, US Navy, 16th Supreme Allied Commander at NATO
“Philbrick moves from one century’s point of view to another’s,
perceptively observing what has changed and what has not. He
particularly notes the past and current legacy of slaveholding,
whether in North or South. This provides highly personal reflection
and unique perspective on both the history and the
often-contradictory lives of present-day Americans.” —Booklist
(starred review)
“[An] entertaining mix of history, travelogue, and memoir . . .
This poignant account strikes a hopeful chord.” —Publishers
Weekly
“Washington, as portrayed by Philbrick, is an impressive figure who
knew that he was a national icon, but this did not go to his head.
. . . Though some histories of the era treat slavery as an
unfortunate footnote, Philbrick does not shy away from pointing out
its evils. When he cuts back to the present, roads and
accommodations improve, and he encounters monuments, museums, and
local historians who describe details of Washington’s visit and,
more often than not, disprove a popular myth.” —Kirkus Reviews
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