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A review by librarianonparade
Here Is Where: Discovering America's Great Forgotten History by Andrew Carroll
4.0
I picked this up because I, like Carroll, am a self-proclaimed history nut and it looked like a fun little romp through some forgotten episodes in America's history. 'Forgotten' is not perhaps the best word to use - if all the people and places mentioned in this book were truly forgotten, there would be no way for anyone, let alone the author, to know about them at all. 'Neglected' is perhaps a better term, or 'bypassed'.
There's no great depth to this book, but it was a lively, engaging read, and it brought to light some interesting places and people from America's history. For example, whilst I knew that the 1918 Spanish flu didn't originate in Spain, I didn't realise it actually originated in America and was transferred to Europe by American troops in WW1. I didn't realise that Al Capone's older brother was a federal agent, or that electronic television was invented by a 14-year-old ploughing his family's farm, or that an African-American woman named Irene Morgan refused to give up her bus seat some 11 years before Rosa Parks famously did.
It's the kind of book I found myself reading aloud to people, reciting facts preceded by an surprised 'did you know?'... A light holiday kind of read. I only wish I'd saved it for my actual holiday.
There's no great depth to this book, but it was a lively, engaging read, and it brought to light some interesting places and people from America's history. For example, whilst I knew that the 1918 Spanish flu didn't originate in Spain, I didn't realise it actually originated in America and was transferred to Europe by American troops in WW1. I didn't realise that Al Capone's older brother was a federal agent, or that electronic television was invented by a 14-year-old ploughing his family's farm, or that an African-American woman named Irene Morgan refused to give up her bus seat some 11 years before Rosa Parks famously did.
It's the kind of book I found myself reading aloud to people, reciting facts preceded by an surprised 'did you know?'... A light holiday kind of read. I only wish I'd saved it for my actual holiday.