Hidden History of Denver

Hidden History

by Elizabeth Victoria Wallace

When prospectors set up camp on Cherry Creek in 1858, Denver emerged as a lightning rod for the extraordinary. Time has washed away so many unusual stories--from the dark days of nineteenth century Law and Order League lynchings and the KKK's later rise and fall to the heroism of suffragettes and the touching plight of the gypsies. Elizabeth Wallace knocks the dust off these details and introduces readers to characters like world heavyweight boxing champion Charles L. "Sonny" Liston, hit-man turned rodeo promoter Leland Varain, aka "Diamond Jack," and the city's daring wall dogs, whose hand-painted building advertisements are fading reminders of a bygone Denver.

Genres: Nonfiction, History

144 pages, Paperback

First published October 25, 2011

Reviews

[Austin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is about the hidden history of denver. Basically it explains the different histories of Denver such as the history of sports, religious activity, the gold rush, and many more. In explanation of these histories it explained stories that went along with them. An example of a story the book shared was about Tom’s Baby, a gold nugget found, then lost, and then found again during the gold rush in 1887. This book offered lots of information on the hidden history of Denver, however for me I got very bored during the reading and hated reading it. There were a few cool stories that the book shared but besides that I got bored reading about a bunch of history. The book also jumped a lot from story to story so I wasn’t able to fully focus on one. Overall the book is good for taking in information but is a boring read apart from a few interesting stories.

[Jonathan Kidd · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two stars for the writing, four stars for the interesting subject matter, averages out to three stars.

[Holger Olsson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read the book “Hidden history of Denver” which unsurprisingly presents the history of Denver. This book presents untold stories from the last 160 years and focuses on the upswing of the city, about how predominantly white people immigrated to Denver and basically took the land from the native americans and many other stories to add to that. It’s definitely a book you can learn something from.

On the other hand, long parts of the book were boring, unnecessary and excessive in my opinion but certain stories were actually quite entertaining and readable without you risking falling asleep. I wouldn’t say this book is for everybody or a book you solely read for enjoyment but rather a book for someone who likes to “nerd” themselves down in history. Overall I would call it a boring book rather than a bad book because it depends on what you’re looking for when reading it.

[Cee Martinez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very easy to read and full of basic and interesting facts. Street names are plentiful and fun to tag the spots on Google maps. Pretty good history of Denver.