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Faces from the Past: Forgotten People of North America
Once, no humans lived on the continent of North America; then they began to journey, the first migrants arriving perhaps 15,000 to 20,000 years ago. When a skeleton from long-ago centuries is discovered, scientists want to study it for information about the person’s life and death, about her or his time and place in history. Sometimes artists are asked to reconstruct faces from the past using copies of their skulls. Then these nameless, unknown people can be "brought back to life"--remembered, and honored. Now, when their skeletons are discovered, their stories can be told.
160 pages, Hardcover
First published November 20, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews
September 1, 2017
Fascinating and well researched. The single drawback I found was that the layout was at times challenging (such as pop-outs and images on pages without section breaks). Wonderful overall.
October 28, 2013
I read this book for the informational category (junior book project). It is a 2013 Outstanding Science Trade Book for Students K-12.
This book explains the unique blend of science and art that is used to recreate faces from human remains that have been excavated from various places across North America. In recreating the faces of people from the past, their legacies, stories, and faces get to live on for eternity.
While the content of this book is interesting and unique in that most readers have no prior knowledge about this topic, one main problem exists: the pictures. The dark and muted colors of the pictures are visually unappealing and do not interest the reader. Because this mixture of science and art seems to be on the cutting edge in both of those fields, the reader expects exciting pictures that entice the eye. Perhaps just putting the same pictures on any background other than a white page might have helped, but these pictures don't make the reader want to find out more information.
The information in clearly organized. Each chapter begins the same way: photograph, large heading, and a summary of the information in the chapter. The book also includes a section dedicated to sources for readers to conduct further research and find additional information. Students using this book for research would appreciate this list of sources and know they would be reliable.
My personal reaction is that the writer's style is a bit dry. The science of recreating faces from so many years ago is astounding and odd, but the writer presents the information is such a factual manner that this amazing process seems almost boring. I want the writer to be as amazed by this information as I am; instead the book reads like a textbook.
I would use this book in my classroom to show student that there are career options in the world they have never even considered. I would also use this book to show students how different career fields merge at times: art and science.
I could use this book to show students how real life writers put research into their work as James Deem had to travel extensively and conduct a lot of research to create this book. This would be a good lesson before assigning students a research project of their own.
This book explains the unique blend of science and art that is used to recreate faces from human remains that have been excavated from various places across North America. In recreating the faces of people from the past, their legacies, stories, and faces get to live on for eternity.
While the content of this book is interesting and unique in that most readers have no prior knowledge about this topic, one main problem exists: the pictures. The dark and muted colors of the pictures are visually unappealing and do not interest the reader. Because this mixture of science and art seems to be on the cutting edge in both of those fields, the reader expects exciting pictures that entice the eye. Perhaps just putting the same pictures on any background other than a white page might have helped, but these pictures don't make the reader want to find out more information.
The information in clearly organized. Each chapter begins the same way: photograph, large heading, and a summary of the information in the chapter. The book also includes a section dedicated to sources for readers to conduct further research and find additional information. Students using this book for research would appreciate this list of sources and know they would be reliable.
My personal reaction is that the writer's style is a bit dry. The science of recreating faces from so many years ago is astounding and odd, but the writer presents the information is such a factual manner that this amazing process seems almost boring. I want the writer to be as amazed by this information as I am; instead the book reads like a textbook.
I would use this book in my classroom to show student that there are career options in the world they have never even considered. I would also use this book to show students how different career fields merge at times: art and science.
I could use this book to show students how real life writers put research into their work as James Deem had to travel extensively and conduct a lot of research to create this book. This would be a good lesson before assigning students a research project of their own.
May 15, 2013
Summary:
Faces from the Past tells the story of the discoveries of the remains of “forgotten people” who, for a variety of reasons were buried unceremoniously in unmarked graves. From Chinese miners in Wyoming to Buffalo soldiers in New Mexico, Deem describes how forensic anthropologists were able to determine much about the lives of the people whose bodies were, for the most part, accidentally uncovered. Deem begins by describing the discovery of Sprit Cave Man, who was later determined to have lived about 10,500 years ago. Astoundingly, the remains were intact enough that scientists could determine much about his life, diet, physical conditions, and his eventual cause of death (three badly abscessed teeth). The author describes the process by which sculptor and anthologist Sharon Long was able create a clay reconstruction of Spirit Cave Man’s head using a reproduction of the skull. In the remaining chapters, the author describes various other incidents in which anthropologists and archaeologists were able to discover more about life in North America in the past through the study and reconstruction of human remains.
Evaluation:
Though the topic of this book is somewhat gruesome, the author maintains a focus on honoring the difficult lives of the human beings whose remains are being studied. Students interested in science, history and even art will find something to intrigue them in these chapters. The author does a good job of making the facts more interesting by telling the stories of the people who discovered the burial sites as well as telling the story of the people who were discovered. Frequent sidebars give additional historical background where it is needed. There are high quality color photographs throughout as well as occasional maps and illustrations. The photographs are very helpful in illustrating how the reconstruction process is done. Quotation sources, a bibliography, resources for further research and an index are provided.
Faces from the Past tells the story of the discoveries of the remains of “forgotten people” who, for a variety of reasons were buried unceremoniously in unmarked graves. From Chinese miners in Wyoming to Buffalo soldiers in New Mexico, Deem describes how forensic anthropologists were able to determine much about the lives of the people whose bodies were, for the most part, accidentally uncovered. Deem begins by describing the discovery of Sprit Cave Man, who was later determined to have lived about 10,500 years ago. Astoundingly, the remains were intact enough that scientists could determine much about his life, diet, physical conditions, and his eventual cause of death (three badly abscessed teeth). The author describes the process by which sculptor and anthologist Sharon Long was able create a clay reconstruction of Spirit Cave Man’s head using a reproduction of the skull. In the remaining chapters, the author describes various other incidents in which anthropologists and archaeologists were able to discover more about life in North America in the past through the study and reconstruction of human remains.
Evaluation:
Though the topic of this book is somewhat gruesome, the author maintains a focus on honoring the difficult lives of the human beings whose remains are being studied. Students interested in science, history and even art will find something to intrigue them in these chapters. The author does a good job of making the facts more interesting by telling the stories of the people who discovered the burial sites as well as telling the story of the people who were discovered. Frequent sidebars give additional historical background where it is needed. There are high quality color photographs throughout as well as occasional maps and illustrations. The photographs are very helpful in illustrating how the reconstruction process is done. Quotation sources, a bibliography, resources for further research and an index are provided.
December 3, 2013
Junior Book Log
Title: Faces from the Past: Forgotten People of North America
Author: James Deem
Category: Informational #4
Source: 2012 Outstanding Science Trade Book for Students K-12
I found this book quite intriguing, as I have zero background knowledge on archaeology and learned so much from reading it. It describes different locations around North America where bodies have been found from thousands of years ago. It then goes into detail about the whole process from excavation to using art to make a mold of what they would have looked like. I also found it interesting that they could even know what the person had as their last meal. This book was organized great as each chapter was laid out in the same format with different information. There were tons of pictures, but there was also a lot of text. This would be a great book for high school students who might be interested in archaeology, or I might look at a smaller section for a younger group of students. Even though I had never thought about this before, I did find this book and the whole process quite interesting. I would use this book in my future classroom if there was a lesson I thought it would work well with.
Title: Faces from the Past: Forgotten People of North America
Author: James Deem
Category: Informational #4
Source: 2012 Outstanding Science Trade Book for Students K-12
I found this book quite intriguing, as I have zero background knowledge on archaeology and learned so much from reading it. It describes different locations around North America where bodies have been found from thousands of years ago. It then goes into detail about the whole process from excavation to using art to make a mold of what they would have looked like. I also found it interesting that they could even know what the person had as their last meal. This book was organized great as each chapter was laid out in the same format with different information. There were tons of pictures, but there was also a lot of text. This would be a great book for high school students who might be interested in archaeology, or I might look at a smaller section for a younger group of students. Even though I had never thought about this before, I did find this book and the whole process quite interesting. I would use this book in my future classroom if there was a lesson I thought it would work well with.
November 13, 2012
Faces from the Past: Forgotten People of North America by James M. Deen (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, November 2012) is another middle grade or young adult nonfiction look at American history by forensic analyzation of the bones that remain behind after hundreds of years. Mr Deen goes much farther back than Sally Walker did: he begins with remains found that are probably 15,000 years old, some of the oldest American bones found. I loved how his book provided examples of remains from all over the country, from a shipwrecked French sailor from La Salle’s expedition found off the coast of what is now Texas (1600s) to the “ordinary” women buried in Albany, New York.
What I espeically enjoyed about Deen’s book was that he focused on the science and art required to create a face based on the bones to represent the person who once lived. As the scientists and artists created the faces, Deen artfully told us the story as well as it could be told about these people, as we know it from the bones.
(Review copy via netgalley)
More detailed review on my blog
What I espeically enjoyed about Deen’s book was that he focused on the science and art required to create a face based on the bones to represent the person who once lived. As the scientists and artists created the faces, Deen artfully told us the story as well as it could be told about these people, as we know it from the bones.
(Review copy via netgalley)
More detailed review on my blog
February 20, 2013
Facial reconstruction is a way to see faces of people from the past. Deem tells the stories, so far as they are known, of many people whose lives have been forgotten; a 10,000 man in Nevada, 1000 year old Native Americans, a 17th century French sailor, a woman from colonial NY, paupers from a colonial almshouse, a Mexican soldier from the time of the Alamo, colonial slaves, a buffalo soldier, and more. Beyond just showing the reconstruction, Deem describes the context of the particular era and area, offering glimpses into little-known parts of American history.
This was a fascinating book, both for the faces and for the history behind them. I learned a lot, and have a lot more subject headings to add to this book's record in our library's catalog. The one thing that I didn't care for is nothing the author could help; it's just that the glass eyes used in such reconstructions are so expressionless and dead-looking; it's eerie. I just wondered why, if artists and sculptors can imbue their art with expression and soul in the eyes, reconstructors can't. It would make the faces much more realistic if they had some expression.
This was a fascinating book, both for the faces and for the history behind them. I learned a lot, and have a lot more subject headings to add to this book's record in our library's catalog. The one thing that I didn't care for is nothing the author could help; it's just that the glass eyes used in such reconstructions are so expressionless and dead-looking; it's eerie. I just wondered why, if artists and sculptors can imbue their art with expression and soul in the eyes, reconstructors can't. It would make the faces much more realistic if they had some expression.
April 21, 2013
James M. Deem investigates several different people or groups of people whose remains have been discovered long after their deaths. This book examines different cultures throughout American history by introducing readers to "forgotten" people - people who didn't make the history textbooks. From Native Americans to African Americans to poor folk to Chinese immigrants, the subject matter covers a wide variety. It's all tied together with the theme of researching and reintroducing these people(s) to the public. Deem describes how archaeologists study the remains to determine ancestry and cause of death and how sculptors recreate the faces of these people based on their skulls.
Deem's lively writing and frequent sidebars keep the text from getting too dry. Many color photos and archival photos are included. Back matter includes source notes, a bibliography, resources for further reading and an index.
Readalike: This would be an EXCELLENT readalike for Sally M. Walker's Written in Bone: Buried Lives of Jamestown and Colonial Maryland or her Secrets of a Civil War Submarine.
Deem's lively writing and frequent sidebars keep the text from getting too dry. Many color photos and archival photos are included. Back matter includes source notes, a bibliography, resources for further reading and an index.
Readalike: This would be an EXCELLENT readalike for Sally M. Walker's Written in Bone: Buried Lives of Jamestown and Colonial Maryland or her Secrets of a Civil War Submarine.
January 16, 2013
This book is outstanding.
The stories told are of high interest historically, and from a human interest perspective. Combine this with sound scientific processes which are expertly introduced, excellent photos and maps and you have an exemplary non-fiction title for teens. At the end of the book are quotation sources, a selected bibliography which is readable, and acknowledgements which I would recommend highly, because they provide insights into the author's process and development of the book, and show how many experts Deem contacted in order both for historical and scientific accuracy. Pointers for further research and an index round off this amazing book. I'd like to state clearly that at no point was the book 'gross', and a strong focus was placed on the value of human life, and the description of living conditions in the past. This is invaluable.
The stories told are of high interest historically, and from a human interest perspective. Combine this with sound scientific processes which are expertly introduced, excellent photos and maps and you have an exemplary non-fiction title for teens. At the end of the book are quotation sources, a selected bibliography which is readable, and acknowledgements which I would recommend highly, because they provide insights into the author's process and development of the book, and show how many experts Deem contacted in order both for historical and scientific accuracy. Pointers for further research and an index round off this amazing book. I'd like to state clearly that at no point was the book 'gross', and a strong focus was placed on the value of human life, and the description of living conditions in the past. This is invaluable.
July 24, 2012
The skeletons and skulls of people from long ago have been found in forgotten burial sites, and little was known about who they were. But scientists, including forensic anthropologists and bioarchaeologists, have developed processes to discover the identities of these people. They can find out about the way these people lived, diseases they might have suffered, and how they died. The book covers five such examples, including how artists using clay have been able to reconstruct the skulls to give a face to these unknown people. (Originally written for and posted on Mackin Books in Bloom at http://mackinbooksinbloom.com)
November 10, 2013
Beautiful full color book that talks about and shows faces from North America's past from American Indians, to Buffalo soldiers, to colonial servants, and so forth. These portraits of people from the past come to life when they are reconstructed by forensic artists.
Though often their names are not known, or sometimes little is known other than a name, you can't help but feel the human connection when you look at these faces from our past. This book has great presentation, beautiful pictures, and intriguing stories. Really enjoyed it!
Though often their names are not known, or sometimes little is known other than a name, you can't help but feel the human connection when you look at these faces from our past. This book has great presentation, beautiful pictures, and intriguing stories. Really enjoyed it!
January 19, 2013
Books like this make me angry at the science education I received growing up because they prove that science can be both informative and fun! Full of pictures and maps, as well as supplementary informational sidebars, this book beautifully presents both the modern teams involved in recovering our history and bringing it back to life and the life story, in as much detail as possible, about the person/people the skeletons once was/were. Kids should love this; I certainly did.
December 5, 2012
James Deem is one of the most underrated nonfiction writers out there: he writes compellingly, his research is impeccable, and his topics are always fascinating. While FACES FROM THE PAST wasn't quite as sexy a topic as, say, Pompeii, Deem does a fantastic job with the subject and this is quite the page-turner.
December 30, 2012
I enjoyed all the stories of the diverse times and places that James Deem portrayed in this book, the processes of discovery, research, and sometimes the physical reconstruction of their faces. What an insight into the lives of the past! I especially enjoyed the chapters that dealt with locations in my area (Capital District of NY).
January 21, 2013
Both James Deem and Houghton MIfflin deserve credit for putting together such fantastic nonfiction. The book is readable, with lots and lots of pictures and sidebars, and excellent end notes and bibliography. There's just tons of gross stuff to appeal to those who like that sort of thing. Excellent excellent nonfiction.
April 6, 2013
Intriguing book regarding recent acrcheaological work done on uncovered skeletons from the past, and what technicians believe these folks looked like when they were alive! Skulls came from wide range of areas, including pre-historic digs out west, colonial Albany, NY, and other sites. Once their facial features were re-constructured, they were often displayed in local museums, etc.
June 16, 2013
An interesting door into the past that provides interesting glimpses into various little-known parts of North American history, and, additionally, provides information about archeology. Great photos, interesting sidebars. Will appeal to artists as well as history buffs because of its focus on how sculptures of faces are created using models made from recovered skulls.
October 9, 2015
In my opinion I thought it was a good book, besides some minor things, the book spent most of its time story telling about the past of the people and not enough time about the process of how the faces from the past are made. Otherwise the book had good details of the people from that past, the condition they were in, what probably happened to them in their life, and the stories were not boring.
December 18, 2012
I read most of this, so it counts.
Deem wrote one of my other favorite nonfiction books, Bodies from the Bog. I am pleased to see he is still in the archaeological writing game. Facial reconstructions using historical skull finds are neat!
Deem wrote one of my other favorite nonfiction books, Bodies from the Bog. I am pleased to see he is still in the archaeological writing game. Facial reconstructions using historical skull finds are neat!
December 27, 2012
Fascinating back matter telling how the author came to write the book and about the people who helped along the way. I was especially interested in the chapter about the Monacan Indians since it's local, and hope to visit their Museum. There are so many interesting careers these days!
January 18, 2013
Interesting introduction to both footnotes in history, a handful of the unknowns found during excavations and archaeological digs, and the forensics of figuring out who they were and what they might have looked like.
February 14, 2013
This was very interesting. I loved seeing the people come to life through the work of the artists and it was great to get a bit of background about the time periods. I could see this being a great resource for an anthropology class.
April 19, 2013
Not everybody left a written record of who they were, and sometimes even their boddies are forgotten as the years and centuries pass. So when someone stumbles across their bodies, what can we learn from them? Can we even tell what they looked like or what they dies of?
October 13, 2013
I thought this book was fantastic! I love art and getting to see the reconstruction of faces in history is a wonderful way to get me interested in wanting to know more about the process itself. I admit the book as a little much and by no means a 'light' read but still very fun to read.
October 25, 2013
Extremely interesting. For much older children. The science is advanced but explained in very simple terms. Fairly graphic content for a much older and more mature audience then I will probably ever teach.
December 27, 2013
The subject matter of this book was absolutely fascinating! If you're a fan of the tv show Bones, this might be a good read for you. There were parts where the writing wasn't stellar, but the book didn't suffer overall from those parts.
February 25, 2014
Full of information about putting faces to nameless corpses that were left behind, the book showcases examples from Albany, NY and abroad where sites were uncovered and then research done on who they were, how they were buried and then having them reburied elsewhere. A very cool nonfiction read.
August 6, 2014
Patron Review:
This book was very interesting. It tells how archaeologists were able to take bones from several different sites and reconstruct the faces of these people. It also gave a lot of history of the sites and the people's lives from the past.
This book was very interesting. It tells how archaeologists were able to take bones from several different sites and reconstruct the faces of these people. It also gave a lot of history of the sites and the people's lives from the past.
November 2, 2012
I love it when a "children's book" teaches me about something I (as an adult) knew nothing about - this one has several!
November 5, 2012
A fascinatingly informative, impressively designed introduction to anthropological facial reconstruction.
January 25, 2013
History buffs will devour this book since it present a different way of looking at the past. I enjoyed how Deem zeroed in on different time periods using the anthropologist and archaeologist angles.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews