Here is where it all began: the Exchange Place PATH station in Jersey City, New Jersey, just across the Hudson River from Manhattan.
This is the spot that sparked my almost compulsive desire to seek out unmarked history sites throughout the country.
Description:
"Unmarked history" are words in the first sentences that caught my attention. Certainly, we all have seen monuments and plaques erected to commemorate major events in American history. But what are these "unknown" occurrences that have slipped under our radar, yet have had a profound impact on our lives?
Andrew Carroll sets out to inform readers of such forgotten, yet important occurrences in American history and the people who made them happen in his absolutely fascinating book, Here Is Where: Discovering America's Great Forgotten History. From technological advancements to crimes, medical discoveries to forgotten patriots, Carroll researches and then visits these overlooked locations, as well as digging out historians and experts to provide insight.
Carroll is collector of historical minutia culled from "obscure magazines and journals or cited in footnotes and parenthetical asides from out-of-print books." Over the years, he has filled twenty-four filing cabinets with references to little-known events, people, and sites. Finding his calendar clear after losing his job and girlfriend, Carroll decides he is finally free to follow up on these tantalizing tidbits of history. Here Is Where is the end result of six months research about selected events and planning the journey, and six additional months for the travel itself.
Each chapter opens with an historical quote or snippet from a first-hand account to provide some insight about the historical event. Carroll then retells that story, introducing the people involved as well as the importance of the event. He is a riveting storyteller so these forgotten events take on a vital life with his clear, passionate backgrounds.
Lastly, he explores the site, talking with local experts and often family members to cull their memories. Some sites are now parking lots, some off-limits to civilians (which lead to repercussions later for Carroll), and some are still standing. Often, information he uncovers leads to side trips to related cases of equal fascination which he is careful to document as well. Then he is off to the next destination, criss-crossing the country from Niihau, Hawaii to Daniel Boone's grave.
And what interesting stories and people does he uncover along the way?
Carroll is collector of historical minutia culled from "obscure magazines and journals or cited in footnotes and parenthetical asides from out-of-print books." Over the years, he has filled twenty-four filing cabinets with references to little-known events, people, and sites. Finding his calendar clear after losing his job and girlfriend, Carroll decides he is finally free to follow up on these tantalizing tidbits of history. Here Is Where is the end result of six months research about selected events and planning the journey, and six additional months for the travel itself.
Each chapter opens with an historical quote or snippet from a first-hand account to provide some insight about the historical event. Carroll then retells that story, introducing the people involved as well as the importance of the event. He is a riveting storyteller so these forgotten events take on a vital life with his clear, passionate backgrounds.
Lastly, he explores the site, talking with local experts and often family members to cull their memories. Some sites are now parking lots, some off-limits to civilians (which lead to repercussions later for Carroll), and some are still standing. Often, information he uncovers leads to side trips to related cases of equal fascination which he is careful to document as well. Then he is off to the next destination, criss-crossing the country from Niihau, Hawaii to Daniel Boone's grave.
And what interesting stories and people does he uncover along the way?
- Phil Farnsworth, who invented television broadcasting, but through unbelievably bad luck never profited from his discovery;
- A correction from the New York Times to Robert Goddard (father of the liquid fueled, multi-staged rocket), published in 1969 after the moon landing, to apologize for the paper's January 1920 comments mocking Goddard's intellect and belief that a rocket could reach the moon;
- The illegal, but necessary practice of grave-robbing in the 1800's to procure corpses for medical studies;
- The accidental discovery of penicillin and then the difficulty of brewing large amounts during World War II to make "as indispensable to the Allied war effort as any weapon" during World War II;
- Dr. Maurice Hilleman who "possibly saved more lives than any other scientist" with his vaccines for mumps, measles, rubella, pneumonia, and 35 other diseases;
- D.B. Cooper and Richard McCoy, the only men who successfully hijacked a jet, demanded money, and then parachuted to safety, were probably the same man;
- "More that twenty-five thousand Navy and Army Air Corps troops were killed within the United States during World War II ... represent[ing] one out of every sixteen U.S. fatalities in the war"
Other histories relate Carroll's search for the disputed resting places of the bones of Thomas Paine and Daniel Boone along with the circumstances behind their mysterious burials. He recounts how the body of Pete Ray, the only US aviator shot down over the Bay of Pigs in Cuba, was finally returned to his family after being held on ice for 18 years by Cuba (which tried to bill his daughter $36,000 for the refrigeration costs).
Need more? There is the fascinating history of the Spanish Influenza in America and one man's search 90 years later in Alaska for remnants of the virus; the discovery of anesthesia in 1844 by a dentist who noticed, during a public demonstration of laughing gas, that after he took a hit on the gas, he felt no pain in the leg he gashed when leaving the stage. (Previously, all surgical operations from dentistry to mastectomies were done without pain-killers of any type. Yikes!) And there is the first person to scale Pikes Peak in 1857, J.A. Archibald, a woman.
I have a friend who judges non-fiction books by both their last sentences as well as their first ones. It is an odd idea, but one he explained as useful to judge whether the author can keep up the quality writing style to the very end. Peeking at last sentences won't spoil a non-fiction book like it might a novel (e.g., The Odds), so I snuck a look at the last-sentence of Here Is Where. And he's right. The book's final sentences continue to deliver passionate writing, wonderfully portraying the importance of remembering the historical events presented:
Need more? There is the fascinating history of the Spanish Influenza in America and one man's search 90 years later in Alaska for remnants of the virus; the discovery of anesthesia in 1844 by a dentist who noticed, during a public demonstration of laughing gas, that after he took a hit on the gas, he felt no pain in the leg he gashed when leaving the stage. (Previously, all surgical operations from dentistry to mastectomies were done without pain-killers of any type. Yikes!) And there is the first person to scale Pikes Peak in 1857, J.A. Archibald, a woman.
I have a friend who judges non-fiction books by both their last sentences as well as their first ones. It is an odd idea, but one he explained as useful to judge whether the author can keep up the quality writing style to the very end. Peeking at last sentences won't spoil a non-fiction book like it might a novel (e.g., The Odds), so I snuck a look at the last-sentence of Here Is Where. And he's right. The book's final sentences continue to deliver passionate writing, wonderfully portraying the importance of remembering the historical events presented:
"At its best, history nurtures within us humility and gratitude. It encourages respect and empathy. It fosters creativity and stimulates the imagination. It inspires resilience. And it does so by illuminating the simple truth that, whether due to some cosmic fluke or divine providence, it's an absolute miracle that any one of us is alive today, walking around on this tiny sphere surrounded by an ocean of space, and that we are, above eveything else, all in this together."In all, an addictive narrative on America's forgotten history and people, carefully explained by someone who is fascinated with what he is finding and why it all matters and must be preserved.
Happy reading.
Fred
Fred
www.firstsentencereader.blogspot.com
If this book interests you, be sure to check out:
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If this book interests you, be sure to check out:
Randall, Willard Sterne, and Nahra, Nancy. Forgotten Americans: Footnote Figures Who Changed American History
Interesting profiles and activities of 15 little-known shapers of America, including Tadeusz Kosciuszko (Immigrant Army), Tecumseh (Indian Nation), Louis Sockalexis (original Cleveland Indian in baseball), etc.
Ayres, Thomas. That's Not in My American History Book: A Compilation of Little-Known Events and Forgotten Heroes
Overlooked people and events at are both fascinating and informative, including men who flew before the Wright brothers. the origin of "Taps," whether Britain owns California, and the truth behind the Boston Tea Party.
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