Let me start off with saying that this book is much better than what you might imagine if you knew how long it took me to read it (Oct. 22 to Jan. 3).
I first discovered the book sometime this summer on a plane ride (I want to say in May on my way back from my brother's graduation, but it could have been in July on the way back from Seth & Suchi's wedding) in the airplane magazine. They had printed the introduction, which I read and enjoyed. It seemed like something right up my alley for non-fiction: random historical knowledge few people now about, told in a travel log sort of way. When I got back, there was a wait list for a copy from the local library, so I put in my request and kept reading other stuff.
I finally got word back in October that it was my turn. I can't remember if I started reading it right away, but meh, not a big deal.
I re-read the introduction, in which Carroll discusses discovering the Edwin Booth saving Robert Lincoln's life, and visiting the station to get immersed in the place. It's a story I've heard before (many times), but I liked how he went out and searched for the setting--in this case, Exchange Place in Jersey City, NJ. It might not be the same way it was back then, but it's still the same location. What's really astonishing, he says, is that there's no indication of what happened here. And while some people may disagree with him about the importance of this event, he lists the events of note on the plaque there and argues that this happenstance should be noted as well. He goes on, when a passer-by asks him what he's looking at, to recount the Booth/Lincoln tale, something I would as done myself, as I am quite the over-sharer. On his way back to DC, he decides he's going to take a trip to these forgotten bits of history, or even just the ones that aren't really commemorated as they should be.
At first, I was worried--he visited Niihau, HI, and tells the story of a Japanese pilot who crash landed there after Pearl Harbor, and how the villagers fought back to protect America, by keeping the pilot's information papers from him and trying to detain him until authorities got there. It's actually a really great story, and I'm not doing it any justice, but the problem was I had heard this story before as well. It was one of the few times in my life I was angry at myself at being so trivia-nerdy, and hoped that the rest of the book wasn't filled with stories I had heard before.
Thankfully, my fears were soon quelled, as the rest of the book contained American historical stories that I hadn't know.
Well, I was 100 pages into the book, and it was time to return it to the library. Since there was someone else who had requested to borrow it after me, I couldn't renew. So I had to bring it back; I noted my page, and asked the librarian to put it at the bottom of the list.
When I finally got the book again in December, it was heyday season of me reading the book club selection and holiday preparation, so I didn't get started on it again until the day after Christmas. And I powered through the remaining 350 pages pretty quickly.
The book in general is quite good, and I suggest history buffs, fans of travel writing, and almost anyone in general to read it. His voice is quite self-aware, and I found myself giggling at those moments when in his quest across the US put him in awkward positions (like taking pictures of what he thought was a former military base, when it turns out it's very much active, as he soon finds out when the "men in black" roll up). I sighed at some of the more heartbreaking parts of our country's past, like the orphan children from large cities shipped out to the country (with the best of intentions) to help them from starving on the streets but often found themselves in worse, more laborious situations. I cringe at some of the medical stuff, especially when Dr. Joseph Goldberger, in an effort to prove that pellagra was a deficiency disease like scurvy and not communicable, "mixed the dried, flaky scabs from various pellagrins with their urine, nasal secretions, and liquid feces, and then, as colleagues looked on, swallowed the concoction whole." I don't know what's worse: this disgusting act, or the fact that I could think of a very similar situation immediately. As Brett aptly put it when I told him about Goldberger, "Science is gross sometimes."
My only problem with the book is the way that he goes off on tangents at every site. And while there are connections and the line of thinking is easy to follow, it becomes information overload sometimes, and fairly quickly. I could see people that prefer the more "straight-shootin' " type of writing to be put off by his winding way of having everything connect. Which they do, quite naturally, in unexpected ways.
I'll end my review with the quote he begins the last chapter with:
I first discovered the book sometime this summer on a plane ride (I want to say in May on my way back from my brother's graduation, but it could have been in July on the way back from Seth & Suchi's wedding) in the airplane magazine. They had printed the introduction, which I read and enjoyed. It seemed like something right up my alley for non-fiction: random historical knowledge few people now about, told in a travel log sort of way. When I got back, there was a wait list for a copy from the local library, so I put in my request and kept reading other stuff.
I finally got word back in October that it was my turn. I can't remember if I started reading it right away, but meh, not a big deal.
I re-read the introduction, in which Carroll discusses discovering the Edwin Booth saving Robert Lincoln's life, and visiting the station to get immersed in the place. It's a story I've heard before (many times), but I liked how he went out and searched for the setting--in this case, Exchange Place in Jersey City, NJ. It might not be the same way it was back then, but it's still the same location. What's really astonishing, he says, is that there's no indication of what happened here. And while some people may disagree with him about the importance of this event, he lists the events of note on the plaque there and argues that this happenstance should be noted as well. He goes on, when a passer-by asks him what he's looking at, to recount the Booth/Lincoln tale, something I would as done myself, as I am quite the over-sharer. On his way back to DC, he decides he's going to take a trip to these forgotten bits of history, or even just the ones that aren't really commemorated as they should be.
At first, I was worried--he visited Niihau, HI, and tells the story of a Japanese pilot who crash landed there after Pearl Harbor, and how the villagers fought back to protect America, by keeping the pilot's information papers from him and trying to detain him until authorities got there. It's actually a really great story, and I'm not doing it any justice, but the problem was I had heard this story before as well. It was one of the few times in my life I was angry at myself at being so trivia-nerdy, and hoped that the rest of the book wasn't filled with stories I had heard before.
Thankfully, my fears were soon quelled, as the rest of the book contained American historical stories that I hadn't know.
Well, I was 100 pages into the book, and it was time to return it to the library. Since there was someone else who had requested to borrow it after me, I couldn't renew. So I had to bring it back; I noted my page, and asked the librarian to put it at the bottom of the list.
When I finally got the book again in December, it was heyday season of me reading the book club selection and holiday preparation, so I didn't get started on it again until the day after Christmas. And I powered through the remaining 350 pages pretty quickly.
The book in general is quite good, and I suggest history buffs, fans of travel writing, and almost anyone in general to read it. His voice is quite self-aware, and I found myself giggling at those moments when in his quest across the US put him in awkward positions (like taking pictures of what he thought was a former military base, when it turns out it's very much active, as he soon finds out when the "men in black" roll up). I sighed at some of the more heartbreaking parts of our country's past, like the orphan children from large cities shipped out to the country (with the best of intentions) to help them from starving on the streets but often found themselves in worse, more laborious situations. I cringe at some of the medical stuff, especially when Dr. Joseph Goldberger, in an effort to prove that pellagra was a deficiency disease like scurvy and not communicable, "mixed the dried, flaky scabs from various pellagrins with their urine, nasal secretions, and liquid feces, and then, as colleagues looked on, swallowed the concoction whole." I don't know what's worse: this disgusting act, or the fact that I could think of a very similar situation immediately. As Brett aptly put it when I told him about Goldberger, "Science is gross sometimes."
My only problem with the book is the way that he goes off on tangents at every site. And while there are connections and the line of thinking is easy to follow, it becomes information overload sometimes, and fairly quickly. I could see people that prefer the more "straight-shootin' " type of writing to be put off by his winding way of having everything connect. Which they do, quite naturally, in unexpected ways.
I'll end my review with the quote he begins the last chapter with:
I haven't been everywhere, but it's on my list.--Susan SontagThis book made me want to go out and search for places, to show my gratitude for what other people did to advance my country in various ways. And while I'm not planning on making a cross-country trip to do so (though that would be fun), I'll get to all the places on my list eventually.
