I LOVE this book! Period. Er, ah, exclamation point. I could end this review right now. Oh, but you probably want to know why I love it. Fine. Let's head to the details.

Author Nathaniel Philbrick -- accompanied by his wife Melissa and their dog Dora -- follows five trips taken by George Washington during his presidency. These are: his move from his home at Mount Vernon to his new workplace in the nation's capital, which was then in Manhattan; his exploration of southern New England; a Long Island tour; a Rhode Island tour; and a trip south, venturing as far away as Georgia.

Washington felt as though he needed to see the country and meet the people that he represented. It was a noble effort. And it doesn't seem as if anyone before had considered tracing these excursions in person. We all know A George Washington. But fewer of us know THIS George Washington. Thanks to this book, we now know a lot more: about our first president, about the American landscape and its people of the late 1700s, and about the Philbrick family.

The story moves seamlessly from what Washington did and wrote about in 1789-91, to what the Philbricks experienced in the same places, a few centuries later. Specific sites claim that Washington slept there. Or he did this, or that, or the other. Did he really? How can we know? Philbrick sets out to nail down the answers. He politely dismisses the folklore that has no possibility of being true.

Philbrick doesn't hide from the dark side of Washington's opinions and behaviors, either, especially when it comes to the treatment of enslaved persons. The president's traveling entourage usually included one or two of his own slaves. The Washington family's ownership of African Americans is riddled with legal complexities. This issue surfaces time and again, throughout this text. It's good and sobering background information to keep in mind. The main character may be one of our national icons, but he wasn't perfect. He was "just a man," as his constituents then realized, after they had the chance to see him in person.

As usual, I chose to listen to the audiobook of this narrative, which was read with animation by the author himself. Nat doesn't usually narrate his history books on CD. I guess he was persuaded to do so with this one since he is a character in it, himself. The result is a personal exchange that brings even more reality and more fun to the story. We can feel as if we're the fourth person in the Philbrick traveling party.

After listening to the whole book, I looked at a copy of the print edition for my own reference purposes. Can it be possible that the physical publication is even better than the CDs? I had missed all of the supplemental material mixed in with the text: the maps, the photos and the archival documents. Jeffrey L. Ward's detailed maps are well worth consulting for each separate journey. The photos allow us to get a glimpse or two of Nat, Melissa and Dora. And who wouldn't want to see a set of Washington's dentures? Even the cover art of this book is terrific. It is as if we're driving down the road ourselves and we can see George Washington's face in the rear-view mirror. Hah! Designer David Litman was really thinking here. I may have to go around with this book again, this time in print.

Travels with George is my favorite kind of historical travel narrative. It brings to light what was true THEN, what is true NOW, and what connections can be revealed between the two. And it's just plain fun to join Nat, Melissa and Dora on their own journeys to see what they can find. Some of the Philbrick parts are laugh-out-loud funny. Actually, some of the Washington ones are, too.

I heartily recommend this book to anyone who likes history or who delights in the joy of discovery. And if you can get Nat to tell it to you, so much the better.