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Here Is Where: Discovering America's Great Forgotten History
Here Is Where chronicles Andrew Carroll’s eye-opening – and at times hilarious -- journey across America to find and explore unmarked historic sites where extraordinary moments occurred and remarkable individuals once lived. Sparking the idea for this book was Carroll’s visit to the spot where Abraham Lincoln’s son was saved by the brother of Lincoln’s assassin. Carroll wondered, How many other unmarked places are there where intriguing events have unfolded and that we walk past every day, not realizing their significance? To answer that question, Carroll ultimately trekked to every region of the country -- by car, train, plane, helicopter, bus, bike, and kayak and on foot. Among the things he *Where in North America the oldest sample of human DNA was discovered * Where America’s deadliest maritime disaster took place, a calamity worse than the fate of the Titanic *Which virtually unknown American scientist saved hundreds of millions of lives *Which famous Prohibition agent was the brother of a notorious gangster *How a 14-year-old farm boy’s brainstorm led to the creation of television Featured prominently in Here Is Where are an abundance of firsts (from the first use of modern anesthesia to the first cremation to the first murder conviction based on forensic evidence); outrages (from riots to massacres to forced sterilizations); and breakthroughs (from the invention, inside a prison, of a revolutionary weapon; to the recovery, deep in the Alaskan tundra, of a super-virus; to the building of the rocket that made possible space travel). Here Is Where is thoroughly entertaining, but it’s also a profound reminder that the places we pass by often harbor amazing secrets and that there are countless other astonishing stories still out there, waiting to be found. Look for Andrew's new book, My Fellow Soldiers.
514 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 19, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 256 reviews
April 16, 2013
If any book cries out for an app, this book certainly does. The places visited in this book are ripe with history. They present a fascinating insight into the people and places in our country that are perhaps little known, yet full of meaning and importance. Who wouldn't want to see the place where John Wilkes Booth's brother, Edwin Booth, saved the life of Abraham Lincoln's son, Robert Todd Lincoln? Do you think the Spanish Flu of 1918 that killed millions worldwide started in Spain? No, it first surfaced in rural Kansas. Like to know where the first American funeral cremation occurred? Henry Laurens of South Carolina, one of this country's founding fathers, placed in his will the uncommon request to have his body burned until utterly consumed, after his death in 1792. Could D. B. Cooper have hijacked a second plane? A hijacking occurred over Utah about five months after D. B. Cooper's first hijacking. It had all the earmarks of Cooper's and the man fit Cooper's description. When he jumped from the plane the hijacker floated to earth with a parachute and a duffel bag with $500,000 dollars. This is a great book full of intriguing, little known facts centered in unheralded places across the United States. Book provided for review by Amazon Vine.
July 28, 2022
History forgets far more than it remembers, and this book tries to track down where some now lost stories took place. Some of them are grim, such as murders and massacres; some inspiring, such as key moments in the civil rights struggle; some are the birthplaces of famous people whose hometowns have forgotten them, and some are just odd and unusual.
The book recounts 53 incidents grouped into eight chapters. There are no connections between any of the stories, so the only unifying theme is that something notable but mostly forgotten happened in a particular place. In some cases the most interesting part of the chapter is not the incident recorded, but an offhand comment the author makes while describing it. For instance, in the Haun’s mill massacre in Missouri in 1838 eighteen Mormons were murdered by locals, and in later years two different memorials were erected, both of which were destroyed. The author remarks that descendants of the murderers still live in the area, and apparently do not want the crimes of their forefathers to be remembered, thus showing themselves to be as blighted and ignorant as their ancestors.
The book opens with the the attack on Pearl Harbor and the Niihau Incident. Niihau is the westernmost of the Hawaiian islands, about 17 miles from Kaua’i. In 1941 the island had no direct contact with the outside world, and so the people living there did not know what was going on when a Japanese Zero crash landed on December 7th. There were residents who spoke Japanese and were able to talk to the pilot, but they did not tell the others what he had said, and then they helped free him after he was detained, taking hostages and wounding two islanders. Eventually he was killed, and one of the people who had helped him committed suicide, and the U.S. Army arrived to sort things out. It was a minor incident in itself, but had major repercussions. Americans already wary of the Japanese presence on the West Coast now had a reason to claim that they would be loyal to Japan rather than the United States, and the Niihau Incident was one of the factors that led to the creation of the internment camps.
There is an interesting story of Ona Judge, a slave who slipped out of Philadelphia in 1796 hoping to find freedom. Her owner pursued her vigorously, employing every available legal option, as well as political and social pressure to get her back, but she resisted and after a long struggle was able to maintain her freedom. Her owner was the President of the United States, George Washington.
Elijah Otis is forgotten by all but the historical society in his hometown of Halifax, Vermont. His elevators made modern cities possible, because previously they were notoriously unsafe, and buildings were limited to about five stories, the maximum number of flights of stairs that people were willing to climb. With modern elevators, however, the sky is literally the limit, and they carry hundreds of millions of people daily without incident. “Fatal accidents happen, but very rarely. On average, twenty-six people are killed by elevators each year (car crashes account for the same number every seven hours), and repairmen are the most likely victims.”
Robert Goddard is also forgotten in his birthplace of Worchester, Massachusetts. He was obsessive about rockets, which is good because he met resistance and ridicule everywhere as he slowly worked out the principles needed to build and launch them. Even the New York Times joined in, writing a blistering story that quoted experts who said that rockets could never work in the vacuum of space because there was nothing for them to push against.
Another chapter recounts the attempts to save the Alamo, which was a crumbling eyesore by the 1930s and which many people wanted to raze or convert to other uses. The most interesting part of this story, however, concerns a little-know fact about Mexican general Santa Anna, “Between 1837 and 1855, Santa Anna became president of—and was exiled from—Mexico three times. He temporarily retired to Staten Island, New York, where he imported a sweet, sticky substance from the Mexican sapodilla tree that inventor Thomas Adams turned into a popular confection called Chiclets. Before dying in 1876, Santa Anna, conqueror of the Alamo, helped introduce chewing gum to America.”
Today, in the age of Covid, the chapter on the 1918 pandemic is especially noteworthy. It is often called the Spanish Flu, but that is because Spain was neutral in World War I and had no reason to downplay the number of cases for propaganda purposes, while all of the major combatants, including the United States, vastly undercounted their numbers. As a result it looked like Spain had more than anyone else, and people assumed the virus must have had its start there. And political considerations, then as now, trumped public safety:
The pandemic would eventually kill 675,000 Americans, and at least 50 million worldwide, with some estimates at twice that number.
There is a chapter on the Cuban Missile Crisis on 1962, focusing on an Air Force pilot who was killed in the bungled invasion. The government, trying to extricate itself from the crisis and put it at arm’s length, referred to the dead Americans as mercenaries, and continued to do so for decades before admitting the truth. Castro, bizarrely, kept the body of the airman in a refrigerated storage space and showed it to visiting Communist dignitaries, then tried to bill the United States for the costs of the cold storage. The chapter also includes a story which considers how close we came to all-out war:
Hart Island, between Manhattan and the Bronx, is the largest potter’s field in the United States, where the nameless, unwanted, and forgotten are buried. Officially, 850,000 people are buried there, but many records were destroyed in a fire, and the actual number may be a million or more. Sadly, almost half of them are children under the age of five. “Adults are buried in pine boxes stacked three high, twenty-five across, two rows per trench. For babies, the coffins are five high and roughly twenty across in a single row.” Even here their rest is not forever; after twenty-five years the bones are dug up and jumbled together in mass graves to make room for newcomers.
One of the more interesting stories involves the Deseret Chemical Depot in Utah. The book’s author had read that it was closed, but when he stopped to take pictures of the base sign and saw some buildings about two miles away, he was immediately accosted by security. They went full thug mode on him, detaining him and strongly implying that he might be arrested. They even had the FBI visit him when he returned home. If they had simply said that it was federal property and photography not permitted, he would probably have thanked them and just driven away. Instead, their asinine behavior practically shouted, “Something going on here, folks! Something THEY don’t want you to know about! What could it be? Why don’t you try to find out?”
Not knowing what to expect, I had thought this might be a humorous book, describing the sites of wacky historical incidents like the first person to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel. Instead, it takes its history seriously, often even elegiacally, and many of these now forgotten places deserve to be remembered, both the triumphs and the tragedies.
The book recounts 53 incidents grouped into eight chapters. There are no connections between any of the stories, so the only unifying theme is that something notable but mostly forgotten happened in a particular place. In some cases the most interesting part of the chapter is not the incident recorded, but an offhand comment the author makes while describing it. For instance, in the Haun’s mill massacre in Missouri in 1838 eighteen Mormons were murdered by locals, and in later years two different memorials were erected, both of which were destroyed. The author remarks that descendants of the murderers still live in the area, and apparently do not want the crimes of their forefathers to be remembered, thus showing themselves to be as blighted and ignorant as their ancestors.
The book opens with the the attack on Pearl Harbor and the Niihau Incident. Niihau is the westernmost of the Hawaiian islands, about 17 miles from Kaua’i. In 1941 the island had no direct contact with the outside world, and so the people living there did not know what was going on when a Japanese Zero crash landed on December 7th. There were residents who spoke Japanese and were able to talk to the pilot, but they did not tell the others what he had said, and then they helped free him after he was detained, taking hostages and wounding two islanders. Eventually he was killed, and one of the people who had helped him committed suicide, and the U.S. Army arrived to sort things out. It was a minor incident in itself, but had major repercussions. Americans already wary of the Japanese presence on the West Coast now had a reason to claim that they would be loyal to Japan rather than the United States, and the Niihau Incident was one of the factors that led to the creation of the internment camps.
There is an interesting story of Ona Judge, a slave who slipped out of Philadelphia in 1796 hoping to find freedom. Her owner pursued her vigorously, employing every available legal option, as well as political and social pressure to get her back, but she resisted and after a long struggle was able to maintain her freedom. Her owner was the President of the United States, George Washington.
Elijah Otis is forgotten by all but the historical society in his hometown of Halifax, Vermont. His elevators made modern cities possible, because previously they were notoriously unsafe, and buildings were limited to about five stories, the maximum number of flights of stairs that people were willing to climb. With modern elevators, however, the sky is literally the limit, and they carry hundreds of millions of people daily without incident. “Fatal accidents happen, but very rarely. On average, twenty-six people are killed by elevators each year (car crashes account for the same number every seven hours), and repairmen are the most likely victims.”
Robert Goddard is also forgotten in his birthplace of Worchester, Massachusetts. He was obsessive about rockets, which is good because he met resistance and ridicule everywhere as he slowly worked out the principles needed to build and launch them. Even the New York Times joined in, writing a blistering story that quoted experts who said that rockets could never work in the vacuum of space because there was nothing for them to push against.
Another chapter recounts the attempts to save the Alamo, which was a crumbling eyesore by the 1930s and which many people wanted to raze or convert to other uses. The most interesting part of this story, however, concerns a little-know fact about Mexican general Santa Anna, “Between 1837 and 1855, Santa Anna became president of—and was exiled from—Mexico three times. He temporarily retired to Staten Island, New York, where he imported a sweet, sticky substance from the Mexican sapodilla tree that inventor Thomas Adams turned into a popular confection called Chiclets. Before dying in 1876, Santa Anna, conqueror of the Alamo, helped introduce chewing gum to America.”
Today, in the age of Covid, the chapter on the 1918 pandemic is especially noteworthy. It is often called the Spanish Flu, but that is because Spain was neutral in World War I and had no reason to downplay the number of cases for propaganda purposes, while all of the major combatants, including the United States, vastly undercounted their numbers. As a result it looked like Spain had more than anyone else, and people assumed the virus must have had its start there. And political considerations, then as now, trumped public safety:
President Woodrow Wilson’s administration, like its European counterparts, refused to acknowledge the mounting health crisis lest it dampen the country’s wartime morale. Early proposals to quarantine troops were rejected, and massive patriotic gatherings went on as planned, despite evidence that the disease was highly transmissible. On September 28, 1918, some 200,000 people came together for a Liberty Loan rally in Philadelphia. Within three days, every hospital bed in the city was full.
The pandemic would eventually kill 675,000 Americans, and at least 50 million worldwide, with some estimates at twice that number.
There is a chapter on the Cuban Missile Crisis on 1962, focusing on an Air Force pilot who was killed in the bungled invasion. The government, trying to extricate itself from the crisis and put it at arm’s length, referred to the dead Americans as mercenaries, and continued to do so for decades before admitting the truth. Castro, bizarrely, kept the body of the airman in a refrigerated storage space and showed it to visiting Communist dignitaries, then tried to bill the United States for the costs of the cold storage. The chapter also includes a story which considers how close we came to all-out war:
In one of history’s greatest “what if?” moments, at the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis, the president’s senior circle of military advisors unanimously recommended bombing Cuba, and Kennedy might well have followed their counsel if he hadn’t recently read The Guns of August, Barbara Tuchman’s Pulitzer Prize–winning book about the events that led up to World War I. Kennedy became convinced that launching air strikes would provoke a Soviet response and cause a domino effect resulting in another world war.
Hart Island, between Manhattan and the Bronx, is the largest potter’s field in the United States, where the nameless, unwanted, and forgotten are buried. Officially, 850,000 people are buried there, but many records were destroyed in a fire, and the actual number may be a million or more. Sadly, almost half of them are children under the age of five. “Adults are buried in pine boxes stacked three high, twenty-five across, two rows per trench. For babies, the coffins are five high and roughly twenty across in a single row.” Even here their rest is not forever; after twenty-five years the bones are dug up and jumbled together in mass graves to make room for newcomers.
One of the more interesting stories involves the Deseret Chemical Depot in Utah. The book’s author had read that it was closed, but when he stopped to take pictures of the base sign and saw some buildings about two miles away, he was immediately accosted by security. They went full thug mode on him, detaining him and strongly implying that he might be arrested. They even had the FBI visit him when he returned home. If they had simply said that it was federal property and photography not permitted, he would probably have thanked them and just driven away. Instead, their asinine behavior practically shouted, “Something going on here, folks! Something THEY don’t want you to know about! What could it be? Why don’t you try to find out?”
Not knowing what to expect, I had thought this might be a humorous book, describing the sites of wacky historical incidents like the first person to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel. Instead, it takes its history seriously, often even elegiacally, and many of these now forgotten places deserve to be remembered, both the triumphs and the tragedies.
July 3, 2013
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.
July 15, 2013
This is a charming review of people, places, and events in U.S. history that have been forgotten or misplaced or swept under the carpet because of embarrassing associations. The author's passion for his subject is contagious, the chapters are relatively short, and the information he presents is well organized. He's got a real talent for finding common threads in events and people that seem at first disparate. This is, no doubt, the result of the extensive research he did which led him from place to place and opened up more stories as he went. Now my head is filled with odd facts that (I hope) will make me the life of the next party I attend. My favorites were the section on the Spanish Flu, the history of the elevator and the Otis name, and the story of the 1885 mine riot in Rock Springs, Wyoming that left two dozen Chinese immigrants dead (and the interesting connection between this town and Dick Cheney). The stories are well told and the author has a glint of humor in his eye as he looks around on his journey.
May 20, 2013
I lived in Lynchburg, Virginia during the 1960s while in high school and college. I left after graduating from Lynchburg College in 1968. I returned eleven years later for a brief four years. During those four years I discovered things about Lynchburg's history that I was unaware of while living there in the sixties.
I did not know, for example, that Thomas Jefferson's summer home, Poplar Forest, was located in one of the city's western suburbs. Neither did I know that a large house up on one of the hills overlooking the city was once the home of the doctor who gave Patrick Henry a fatal dose of mercury medicine. Dr. George Cabell warned Henry that it might be fatal, but Henry insisted on taking it. He died.
Both Popular Forest and Point of Honor are now tourist attractions; neither was when I lived in the area. My point is simply this. We often live near locations of historical significance without knowing it, often because no one ever bothered to erect a marker.
Andrew Carroll's very interesting book, HERE IS WHERE: DISCOVERING AMERICA'S GREAT FORGOTTEN HISTORY (New York: Crown Archetype, 2013), brings to light many interesting, and often overlooked, individuals and events in America's history. Carroll does so by visiting the sites associated with the people and events. Often those living nearby were unaware of what took place there until Carroll showed up asking questions.
The stories uncovered by Carroll are more interesting than they are of historical importance. A visit to some "lush green bean fields" in western Indiana is the setting for an account of Horace Greeley's involvement in an attempt to establish the utopian community known as the Grand Prairie Harmonical Association. Like other such attempts in America, and there were quite a number, GPHA failed. Nothing is left of the community, or should we say commune, except bean fields.
Not everyone would be happy with Carroll's reviving memories of individuals or events many Americans, especially those living in their shadow, would rather remain hidden in the back of history's closet. One example is Carroll's visit to California's redwoods in search of any tribute to Madison Grant, one of America's early conservationists.
Given the popularity of environmental issues today, it is remarkable that almost no one is aware of the fact that one of the three men responsible for saving the giant redwoods of California was a man named Madison Grant. In fact, there is only a small bronze plaque in California's Redwoods State Park that pays tribute to this great conservationist and defender of America's natural beauty. There are three names listed on the plaque. They are Madison Grant, John C. Merriam, and Henry Fairfield Osborn, founders of the Save-the-Redwoods League.
Most of those who by some accident happen to see the plaque and read it have no idea who any of the three men were. A few do, and some of them are aghast at any mention of Madison Grant, especially in a favorable light. Why? Not only was Grant a conservationist, he was also the author of a very popular book advocating the now discredited pseudoscience known as eugenics. Eugenics was an attempt of give scientific credibility to the idea of breeding a "master race."
Madison Grant's book, THE PASSING OF THE GREAT RACE (1916) was not only widely read in America, but also in Germany. Many Nazi leaders and intellectuals used Grant's book, as well as Henry Ford's THE INTERNATIONAL JEW (1920), to give respectability to their racist theories.
HERE IS WHERE includes a great many little known historical points of interest. Not everyone will find every article equally interesting, but there is more than a little here for anyone who enjoys reading about one of the most interesting of topics, history.
HERE IS WHERE: DISCOVERING AMERICA'S GREAT FORGOTTEN HISTORY is an easy and most enjoyable read. Thank you Mr. Carroll.
I did not know, for example, that Thomas Jefferson's summer home, Poplar Forest, was located in one of the city's western suburbs. Neither did I know that a large house up on one of the hills overlooking the city was once the home of the doctor who gave Patrick Henry a fatal dose of mercury medicine. Dr. George Cabell warned Henry that it might be fatal, but Henry insisted on taking it. He died.
Both Popular Forest and Point of Honor are now tourist attractions; neither was when I lived in the area. My point is simply this. We often live near locations of historical significance without knowing it, often because no one ever bothered to erect a marker.
Andrew Carroll's very interesting book, HERE IS WHERE: DISCOVERING AMERICA'S GREAT FORGOTTEN HISTORY (New York: Crown Archetype, 2013), brings to light many interesting, and often overlooked, individuals and events in America's history. Carroll does so by visiting the sites associated with the people and events. Often those living nearby were unaware of what took place there until Carroll showed up asking questions.
The stories uncovered by Carroll are more interesting than they are of historical importance. A visit to some "lush green bean fields" in western Indiana is the setting for an account of Horace Greeley's involvement in an attempt to establish the utopian community known as the Grand Prairie Harmonical Association. Like other such attempts in America, and there were quite a number, GPHA failed. Nothing is left of the community, or should we say commune, except bean fields.
Not everyone would be happy with Carroll's reviving memories of individuals or events many Americans, especially those living in their shadow, would rather remain hidden in the back of history's closet. One example is Carroll's visit to California's redwoods in search of any tribute to Madison Grant, one of America's early conservationists.
Given the popularity of environmental issues today, it is remarkable that almost no one is aware of the fact that one of the three men responsible for saving the giant redwoods of California was a man named Madison Grant. In fact, there is only a small bronze plaque in California's Redwoods State Park that pays tribute to this great conservationist and defender of America's natural beauty. There are three names listed on the plaque. They are Madison Grant, John C. Merriam, and Henry Fairfield Osborn, founders of the Save-the-Redwoods League.
Most of those who by some accident happen to see the plaque and read it have no idea who any of the three men were. A few do, and some of them are aghast at any mention of Madison Grant, especially in a favorable light. Why? Not only was Grant a conservationist, he was also the author of a very popular book advocating the now discredited pseudoscience known as eugenics. Eugenics was an attempt of give scientific credibility to the idea of breeding a "master race."
Madison Grant's book, THE PASSING OF THE GREAT RACE (1916) was not only widely read in America, but also in Germany. Many Nazi leaders and intellectuals used Grant's book, as well as Henry Ford's THE INTERNATIONAL JEW (1920), to give respectability to their racist theories.
HERE IS WHERE includes a great many little known historical points of interest. Not everyone will find every article equally interesting, but there is more than a little here for anyone who enjoys reading about one of the most interesting of topics, history.
HERE IS WHERE: DISCOVERING AMERICA'S GREAT FORGOTTEN HISTORY is an easy and most enjoyable read. Thank you Mr. Carroll.
August 16, 2013
This book is much more than the History Lite that seems to be popular today. Although the author skips around (figuratively and actually) from location to location, he provides a great deal of depth on each of his topics. Each is entertaining and (yes, I must say) educational, and Mr. Carroll sheds new light on many 'old' things. Not just chewing gum for the mind, this one.
I especially liked the small connections he makes between one event and others in his book - it's like finding a little thread that, when you pull it, opens a hidden door to another secret compartment. I'm reminded of a great British TV series, hosted by James Burke, which aired episodes in 1978, 1994, and 1997. He would spin these amazing webs of connections between disparate events, and follow them wherever they led. Nicely done, Mr. Carroll!
I especially liked the small connections he makes between one event and others in his book - it's like finding a little thread that, when you pull it, opens a hidden door to another secret compartment. I'm reminded of a great British TV series, hosted by James Burke, which aired episodes in 1978, 1994, and 1997. He would spin these amazing webs of connections between disparate events, and follow them wherever they led. Nicely done, Mr. Carroll!
August 20, 2013
The best compliment I can give to this book is that I hope the author will soon write another one! A fascinating exploration of little known historical episodes in American history told through the author's trips to the places where they occurred. He manages to weave a little suspense into the stories and makes some wonderful points about the value of knowing our history. My favorite stories were the medical ones but all of it was really interesting. His willingness to share his personal quirks adds to the enjoyment. He outlined over 16 stories in the acknowledgements that didn't make it into this book but I hope they will make it into the next one!
October 13, 2014
If you are looking for an informative read on American history regarding important people and events that get undeservedly overlooked, Andrew Carroll's "Here Is Where: Discovering America's Forgotten History" provides the material you seek. Carroll enlightens the reader with multitudinous information, engages his audience to reflect and consider pivotal moments in time, and illustrates for us all how fragile one's legacy, no matter how impactful, can become.
Carroll provides plenty of amusing and startling moments in discussing America's explorations, immigrations, medicinal and technological advances, judicial advancements, and much more. He takes the reader on a journey to America's four out-stretched corners–western Hawaii to northern Alaska, eastern Maine to southern Florida–and plenty of points in-between, cacophonously urban and serenely rural. He introduces us to everyday Americans past and present: those who have made profound accomplishments and those who work tirelessly to record and remember those achievers. "Here is Where" can be considered one part recorded travelogue, one part anecdotal sociological treatise, one part historical narrative; and in sum, Carroll weaves a powerful quilt of American storytelling.
A small Hawaiian island hosted an interesting event during World War II, just as pertinent as the event at Pearl Harbor. A tiny Alaskan village's cemetery played a crucial role in fighting the Spanish flu. A small farmhouse in Idaho sheltered a boy who conceived how to create the home television. A national park in Nevada is home to Prometheus, who was born before the Great Pyramids were built and died only recently. A Philadelphia bookstore unknowingly possessed one of the few and rare original copies of the Declaration of Independence, and now the only existing copy on permanent, year-round public display. An empty field in Utah played landing site for one of America's most daring airplane hijackers. A town in Ohio, though found on maps, doesn't exist. Carroll discusses many other spots of like consequence, all engrossing and all worthy of note.
Houses, graves, laboratories, islands, theaters, town squares, alleys, mountainsides, patches of woods, military bases, riverbanks, shops, etc., are all stops along the way for Carroll to uncover which marker-less locations should hold reverential respect and honor for all Americans. Overshadowed by other, more famous events, or by politics, or even because of shame, these sites hold importance in winning our wars, curing our pandemic diseases, shaping our national policies, and advancing our sciences, to name a few points of profundity. What is heartbreaking about it all, as Carroll deftly relates, is how little our society cherishes and honors some of our most important people, institutions, and locales. Ironically perhaps, Carroll leaves us pondering a question: how will we as individuals, our actions, and our advancements, be remembered?
Well done, Mr. Carroll! I am glad to have received this book from the Blogging for Books program in exchange for this review. I look forward to reading Mr. Carroll's other books already available in bookstores and his future works.
Carroll provides plenty of amusing and startling moments in discussing America's explorations, immigrations, medicinal and technological advances, judicial advancements, and much more. He takes the reader on a journey to America's four out-stretched corners–western Hawaii to northern Alaska, eastern Maine to southern Florida–and plenty of points in-between, cacophonously urban and serenely rural. He introduces us to everyday Americans past and present: those who have made profound accomplishments and those who work tirelessly to record and remember those achievers. "Here is Where" can be considered one part recorded travelogue, one part anecdotal sociological treatise, one part historical narrative; and in sum, Carroll weaves a powerful quilt of American storytelling.
A small Hawaiian island hosted an interesting event during World War II, just as pertinent as the event at Pearl Harbor. A tiny Alaskan village's cemetery played a crucial role in fighting the Spanish flu. A small farmhouse in Idaho sheltered a boy who conceived how to create the home television. A national park in Nevada is home to Prometheus, who was born before the Great Pyramids were built and died only recently. A Philadelphia bookstore unknowingly possessed one of the few and rare original copies of the Declaration of Independence, and now the only existing copy on permanent, year-round public display. An empty field in Utah played landing site for one of America's most daring airplane hijackers. A town in Ohio, though found on maps, doesn't exist. Carroll discusses many other spots of like consequence, all engrossing and all worthy of note.
Houses, graves, laboratories, islands, theaters, town squares, alleys, mountainsides, patches of woods, military bases, riverbanks, shops, etc., are all stops along the way for Carroll to uncover which marker-less locations should hold reverential respect and honor for all Americans. Overshadowed by other, more famous events, or by politics, or even because of shame, these sites hold importance in winning our wars, curing our pandemic diseases, shaping our national policies, and advancing our sciences, to name a few points of profundity. What is heartbreaking about it all, as Carroll deftly relates, is how little our society cherishes and honors some of our most important people, institutions, and locales. Ironically perhaps, Carroll leaves us pondering a question: how will we as individuals, our actions, and our advancements, be remembered?
Well done, Mr. Carroll! I am glad to have received this book from the Blogging for Books program in exchange for this review. I look forward to reading Mr. Carroll's other books already available in bookstores and his future works.
February 11, 2016
"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...it's an absolute miracle that any one of us is alive today...and that we are, above everything else, all in this together."
When your passion is history, and you struggle for years to communicate why history carries significance to teenagers, it is altogether settling to hear it put so eloquently. I was entirely entranced by the stories revealed in the chapters and pages of this delight. Here is Where, albeit oddly titled until you realize it is the opening phrase of the sentence, "Here is where such and such happened," is a road trip collection of forgotten national history, SIGNIFICANT history, that in the author's opinion, deserves some semblance of a marker. A bronzed plaque, an erected statue, a landmark of some sort. Who knew the inventor of television was a 14 year old farm boy? That the Spanish Flu that claimed 50 million European lives started in Kansas? That you could walk up to the remains of the oldest living thing in the country and not even know it's there? Author Andrew Carroll zigzags from state to state searching for uncovered stories that should be remembered, but are for one reason or another, are not. The Jehovah's Witnesses and the Pledge. The Sinking of the Sultana. The accidental cure for pellagra.
Yet when I reached the chapter on cooperative communities, then it got personal. Reading about others in the middle of one makes for an interesting juxtaposition. In reading this book, I was reminded of the volumes of hidden history that have passed through the very neighborhood I myself live in. It is a book unto itself, one which someone ought to write someday (Mr. Carroll?). So, for now, as another history book comes to a close, Davy Crockett, Sam Houston, Alexander Fleming, Nikola Tesla, Robert Lincoln and hosts of other historical figures will have to once more go quietly into the night of closed pages. Perhaps as time goes by, more obscure stories will be exposed from the erosion of time and there will be more volumes. Until then, another day is in the books as history. Good night.
When your passion is history, and you struggle for years to communicate why history carries significance to teenagers, it is altogether settling to hear it put so eloquently. I was entirely entranced by the stories revealed in the chapters and pages of this delight. Here is Where, albeit oddly titled until you realize it is the opening phrase of the sentence, "Here is where such and such happened," is a road trip collection of forgotten national history, SIGNIFICANT history, that in the author's opinion, deserves some semblance of a marker. A bronzed plaque, an erected statue, a landmark of some sort. Who knew the inventor of television was a 14 year old farm boy? That the Spanish Flu that claimed 50 million European lives started in Kansas? That you could walk up to the remains of the oldest living thing in the country and not even know it's there? Author Andrew Carroll zigzags from state to state searching for uncovered stories that should be remembered, but are for one reason or another, are not. The Jehovah's Witnesses and the Pledge. The Sinking of the Sultana. The accidental cure for pellagra.
Yet when I reached the chapter on cooperative communities, then it got personal. Reading about others in the middle of one makes for an interesting juxtaposition. In reading this book, I was reminded of the volumes of hidden history that have passed through the very neighborhood I myself live in. It is a book unto itself, one which someone ought to write someday (Mr. Carroll?). So, for now, as another history book comes to a close, Davy Crockett, Sam Houston, Alexander Fleming, Nikola Tesla, Robert Lincoln and hosts of other historical figures will have to once more go quietly into the night of closed pages. Perhaps as time goes by, more obscure stories will be exposed from the erosion of time and there will be more volumes. Until then, another day is in the books as history. Good night.
May 9, 2015
Won through Goodreads.
More like 4.5 stars, but I'll give it 5.
I really enjoyed this book. Carroll went around the U.S. traveling to places that were important to our history but have been forgotten and don't have markers. The book is broken down into sections based on what the event was; there is a section for medical history, technological history, graves/death history, preservation of history, and more. Some of these sections I enjoyed more than others. I didn't enjoy the medical section as much, but that is because I'm not very interested in it, not because it wasn't interesting. My favorite section was the historical preservation chapter where Carroll discusses the Dunlap broadsides, the Alamo, and more. The graves/death section was also very interesting, and had one of the saddest chapters in the book, in my opinion. (Also, the chapter on Philo Farnsworth was really interesting; I knew a little about him because of Warehouse 13, but that was it. It was great to learn more about him, and I really felt sorry for him overall.)
My only criticism of the book would be that the chapter headings don't always really reflect what the chapter is about. The place that the title is for may just be the jumping off point to discuss something else overall (e.g. The Leary Bookshop is just a way to talk about the Dunlap broadsides and the preservation of them, or lack thereof). This isn't necessarily a bad thing, all of the tangents Carroll goes on are fascinating, but I sometimes wished to know a bit more about the place that the chapter was supposed to be about. Another slight criticism would be that the quotes used at the beginning of each chapter didn't always make sense to me, but if I read them again it might become clear.
Overall, a very interesting book about things people should know more about. I would recommend this to everyone, especially those interested in American history or lesser known history.
More like 4.5 stars, but I'll give it 5.
I really enjoyed this book. Carroll went around the U.S. traveling to places that were important to our history but have been forgotten and don't have markers. The book is broken down into sections based on what the event was; there is a section for medical history, technological history, graves/death history, preservation of history, and more. Some of these sections I enjoyed more than others. I didn't enjoy the medical section as much, but that is because I'm not very interested in it, not because it wasn't interesting. My favorite section was the historical preservation chapter where Carroll discusses the Dunlap broadsides, the Alamo, and more. The graves/death section was also very interesting, and had one of the saddest chapters in the book, in my opinion. (Also, the chapter on Philo Farnsworth was really interesting; I knew a little about him because of Warehouse 13, but that was it. It was great to learn more about him, and I really felt sorry for him overall.)
My only criticism of the book would be that the chapter headings don't always really reflect what the chapter is about. The place that the title is for may just be the jumping off point to discuss something else overall (e.g. The Leary Bookshop is just a way to talk about the Dunlap broadsides and the preservation of them, or lack thereof). This isn't necessarily a bad thing, all of the tangents Carroll goes on are fascinating, but I sometimes wished to know a bit more about the place that the chapter was supposed to be about. Another slight criticism would be that the quotes used at the beginning of each chapter didn't always make sense to me, but if I read them again it might become clear.
Overall, a very interesting book about things people should know more about. I would recommend this to everyone, especially those interested in American history or lesser known history.
January 16, 2018
Wonderful account of Carroll's visits to many lesser-known (or practically unknown) historical sites around the United States and the research that went into them. His style is a little bit like Sarah Vowell's, especially in his regard for the obscure, humble underdogs who never made it into the history books and who deserve at least a historical marker. My favorite chapters include the ones on Elisha Otis (yes, the founder of Otis elevators and inventor of the safety brake for elevators), Robert Goddard, and Dr. Loring Miner (he was the first physician to warn of the Spanish influenza epidemic in 1918--a good tie-in for Dan Brown's "Inferno", which I'm reading now). While he's a lot less snarky than Vowell, his understated and often self-deprecating humor comes through enough for you to see that he would be a great tour guide for the ultimate history geek road trip.
July 28, 2014
If you didn't know that Edwin Booth saved the life of Robert Todd Lincoln, months before his brother assassinated President Lincoln, you aren't alone. I had no clue, and that's the point of this book. The author, Andrew Carroll, who had files upon files of little know historical oddities, decided to travel the United States, visiting the sites of pivotal points in American history, that most of us have forgotten about. And forgotten is probably not the right word, let's just say this book is full of events and people that most of us never heard about, though we should have.
He had a few self imposed criteria. They had to be sites that were nationally important, not just some fun local event that didn't have that much of an impact, outside of the neighborhood it took place in. But most importantly, they had to be unmarked, which most of the time, meant they were forgotten.
But this isn't just a book full of unconnected events and the personalities involved, instead its a travelogue that celebrates this country's past, and honors those that are trying to preserve it. The author isn't just slapping down some dates and names, he's letting us in on the journey, allowing us to share in the discovery, to revel in our collective history. Each trip is a separate journey, and we are right there with him, as he visits the sites and talks to the locals, gleaning information from everyone he meets. You can feel the reverence and even the awe that he feels at times, being on location, where those we should honor, gave up their lives or fulfilled a life time of accomplishments.
He starts us off in Hawaii, not the most logical choice, nor his first choice. Rather he is forced to accommodate his journey, to meet the demands of where he is going. And it's with Hawaii that my studying began. I was unaware of how a kamikaze pilot crash landed on the small island of Niihau. Nor did I know of his capture by the locals, and how some trusted members of the community, who happened to be of Japanese heritage, tried to help him in escaping. It's that incident that helped cement the distrust of Japanese Americans, and helped to land them in internment camps for the remainder of World War II.
What follows is a state by state tour, exploring other such events. But he doesn't go off willy nilly, or even follow in a way that makes the most geographical sense. Instead he breaks the stops down into categories, using these events and places to explore broader themes running throughout our history. He visits those who are trying to figure out who was here before us. He delves into the darker side of expansion, discovery and growth. He visits the homes of men and women who pushed our country forward through innovation and science. He even touches upon the future, how our past teaches us about what is to come, and how there are those who are trying to preserve it for those generations to come.
And just to put out there one random fact that I never knew, the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918, started in Haskell County, KS. I live in Kansas, but haven't been into the Western part of the state, I always knew that I never wanted to take a trip to Sublette.
He had a few self imposed criteria. They had to be sites that were nationally important, not just some fun local event that didn't have that much of an impact, outside of the neighborhood it took place in. But most importantly, they had to be unmarked, which most of the time, meant they were forgotten.
But this isn't just a book full of unconnected events and the personalities involved, instead its a travelogue that celebrates this country's past, and honors those that are trying to preserve it. The author isn't just slapping down some dates and names, he's letting us in on the journey, allowing us to share in the discovery, to revel in our collective history. Each trip is a separate journey, and we are right there with him, as he visits the sites and talks to the locals, gleaning information from everyone he meets. You can feel the reverence and even the awe that he feels at times, being on location, where those we should honor, gave up their lives or fulfilled a life time of accomplishments.
He starts us off in Hawaii, not the most logical choice, nor his first choice. Rather he is forced to accommodate his journey, to meet the demands of where he is going. And it's with Hawaii that my studying began. I was unaware of how a kamikaze pilot crash landed on the small island of Niihau. Nor did I know of his capture by the locals, and how some trusted members of the community, who happened to be of Japanese heritage, tried to help him in escaping. It's that incident that helped cement the distrust of Japanese Americans, and helped to land them in internment camps for the remainder of World War II.
What follows is a state by state tour, exploring other such events. But he doesn't go off willy nilly, or even follow in a way that makes the most geographical sense. Instead he breaks the stops down into categories, using these events and places to explore broader themes running throughout our history. He visits those who are trying to figure out who was here before us. He delves into the darker side of expansion, discovery and growth. He visits the homes of men and women who pushed our country forward through innovation and science. He even touches upon the future, how our past teaches us about what is to come, and how there are those who are trying to preserve it for those generations to come.
And just to put out there one random fact that I never knew, the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918, started in Haskell County, KS. I live in Kansas, but haven't been into the Western part of the state, I always knew that I never wanted to take a trip to Sublette.
April 18, 2013
Andrew Carroll toured the country looking for history that isn't there. Not that something didn't happen, but that whatever happened is little remembered today, or utterly forgotten. No markers, no citations, certainly no monuments. Andrew Carroll goes there for us, because without an equal amount of research we can't find and appreciate these forgotten spots and stories.
Mr. Carroll's quest started with one forgotten place -- a subway stop in Jersey City, NJ. It was here in the early 1860s that one passenger waiting to board a steam-powered locomotive was saved by another passenger from being run over. The hero? The brother of Lincoln assassin John Wilkes Booth. The man saved from death? The eldest son of Abraham Lincoln.
This is the kind of story that propels Mr. Carroll to travel the country in search of fascinating bits of forgotten history. He visits the town of a teenage farm kid named Philo Farnsworth, who invented the television (really!) and the jail where a woman named Irene Morgan was sent after she refused to give up her seat on a bus -- 11 years before Rosa Parks's similar act of civil disobedience. Many of the stories have a surprising twist, like the story of a gold prospector who set out from Kansas in 1857, A.J. Archibald, who turns out to be someone else entirely than the author leads us to believe for several pages.
Along the way, Mr. Carroll introduces us to a terrific cross-section of Americans, people who help him locate these obscure and unmarked places. Historians, librarians, descendants -- they are interesting traveling companions and the author makes good use of his conversations with them. The book is dense with facts and events, and many of them are intertwined, so that it takes some sorting-out as you go along. But that's okay with me. I was more than happy to go along on his ride.
Mr. Carroll's quest started with one forgotten place -- a subway stop in Jersey City, NJ. It was here in the early 1860s that one passenger waiting to board a steam-powered locomotive was saved by another passenger from being run over. The hero? The brother of Lincoln assassin John Wilkes Booth. The man saved from death? The eldest son of Abraham Lincoln.
This is the kind of story that propels Mr. Carroll to travel the country in search of fascinating bits of forgotten history. He visits the town of a teenage farm kid named Philo Farnsworth, who invented the television (really!) and the jail where a woman named Irene Morgan was sent after she refused to give up her seat on a bus -- 11 years before Rosa Parks's similar act of civil disobedience. Many of the stories have a surprising twist, like the story of a gold prospector who set out from Kansas in 1857, A.J. Archibald, who turns out to be someone else entirely than the author leads us to believe for several pages.
Along the way, Mr. Carroll introduces us to a terrific cross-section of Americans, people who help him locate these obscure and unmarked places. Historians, librarians, descendants -- they are interesting traveling companions and the author makes good use of his conversations with them. The book is dense with facts and events, and many of them are intertwined, so that it takes some sorting-out as you go along. But that's okay with me. I was more than happy to go along on his ride.
June 12, 2015
I was very intrigued by the premise of this book from the start. I would call this historical nonfiction, and it is a MUST read for any American, and any fan of history. I don't normally read a lot of nonfiction, but this was really fun to read. This book is especially about the overlooked, the underdog, the impetus for major historical events that no one knows about. Carroll makes it very entertaining with his spurts of humor and the way he tells each story in just the right amount of detail. Easy to pick up and just read a chapter here and there, this is a great read. Each chapter focuses on a little known event or an unknown yet important American that managed to alter history, usually for the better. 40 states are covered, and I can only hope that he has gathered enough additional stories to publish a second volume. Everything from forestation to medical discoveries to forgotten graves are included here. My favorites include the story of Robert Todd Lincoln being pulled off a train track in front of a moving train by actor Edwin Booth. Yep, the brother of John Wilkes, who later killed Robert Todd's famous father. And the moving story of the oldest organism on earth, callously murdered for no good reason. Or the deeper story of the Alamo - after the raid. I am suddenly very interested at what might have happened in obsure or heavily populated sites in my own hometown that we are not aware of. Hmmmm, summer project anyone??
June 14, 2014
Pretty good bathroom book! Not meant to be offensive, but this collection of forgotten moments in American History are each about 4-6 pages long and about the right length for—well, you know. Andrew Carroll went on a cool road trip, visiting interesting places throughout our country where some not-so-monumental, bizarre, and/or tragic events have taken place.
Some of the places seem to beg for more attention in historical importance, such as the disaster of the SS Sultana which is America's biggest maritime disaster, but forgotten due to Lincoln's assassination. Carroll takes us to the small privately owned Hawaiian Island which saw the first US Military action of World War II, examines the fossilized poop of the oldest civilization in North America, and stops by the small New Hampshire town where one of George Washington's run-away slave hid out for years (this is actually an interesting story, ripe for a Lifetime movie).
Carroll's writing is fun, occasionally witty, (could use some Bill Bryson attitude) and captures his excitement at finding these all but forgotten locations. It's amazing at just how much history seems to be on the cusp of lost. Pretty sure there will be a Volume II next year—save a space in the bathroom. Again: take no offense.
Some of the places seem to beg for more attention in historical importance, such as the disaster of the SS Sultana which is America's biggest maritime disaster, but forgotten due to Lincoln's assassination. Carroll takes us to the small privately owned Hawaiian Island which saw the first US Military action of World War II, examines the fossilized poop of the oldest civilization in North America, and stops by the small New Hampshire town where one of George Washington's run-away slave hid out for years (this is actually an interesting story, ripe for a Lifetime movie).
Carroll's writing is fun, occasionally witty, (could use some Bill Bryson attitude) and captures his excitement at finding these all but forgotten locations. It's amazing at just how much history seems to be on the cusp of lost. Pretty sure there will be a Volume II next year—save a space in the bathroom. Again: take no offense.
August 9, 2014
This book is brilliant. It's a combination of the first hand account of the author's travels and the forgotten history he dug up. At first, I wasn't very fond of the travelogue parts, but as I continued to read, I grew to like the author's journey as much as the historical stories he discovered . He found some fascinating information that made me wonder how such events have been forgotten.
While he doesn't come across as preachy, Carroll does include his opinion and bits of insight on some things. He mentions how it's important for us to remember our history, even the bad things so that we don't make the same mistakes repeatedly. Carroll's accounts are touching, educational, and insightful. He unearthed the history of our country that has sat on the sidelines. This isn't a history of presidents, tyrants, or the wealthy. It's a history of scandal, innovation, tragedy, triumph, and events that have shaped this nation into what it is today.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone that wants to learn more about American history.
Content: Some violence and mild language.
Source: I received a copy of this book from Blogging for Books in exchange for an honest review.
While he doesn't come across as preachy, Carroll does include his opinion and bits of insight on some things. He mentions how it's important for us to remember our history, even the bad things so that we don't make the same mistakes repeatedly. Carroll's accounts are touching, educational, and insightful. He unearthed the history of our country that has sat on the sidelines. This isn't a history of presidents, tyrants, or the wealthy. It's a history of scandal, innovation, tragedy, triumph, and events that have shaped this nation into what it is today.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone that wants to learn more about American history.
Content: Some violence and mild language.
Source: I received a copy of this book from Blogging for Books in exchange for an honest review.
December 24, 2014
The first tidbit of information involved Edwin Booth, one of the most famous actors in America at the time, saving Abraham Lincoln's son from being run over by a train at Exchange Place in Jersey City. Since I know the location very well, that got my interest. Of course neither one could have foreseen that Booth's brother would assassinate the President a year later.
It seems that many potentially memorable events get overshadowed in the course of time by something much bigger happening immediately afterward. One such instance involved the sinking of the steamship Sultana which killed more people on the Mississippi River than the Titanic. However it happened only days before the Lincoln assassination and is mostly forgotten.
If you enjoy weird historical footnotes like the fact that General Santa Anna, villain of the Alamo, was living in Staten Island where he imported the raw ingredients that became Chiclets, the first chewing gum in America; then this is right up your alley.
The book does meander a lot but that is the point as many of the stories of early America do tend to intersect and the same names keep popping up over and over for different reasons.
It seems that many potentially memorable events get overshadowed in the course of time by something much bigger happening immediately afterward. One such instance involved the sinking of the steamship Sultana which killed more people on the Mississippi River than the Titanic. However it happened only days before the Lincoln assassination and is mostly forgotten.
If you enjoy weird historical footnotes like the fact that General Santa Anna, villain of the Alamo, was living in Staten Island where he imported the raw ingredients that became Chiclets, the first chewing gum in America; then this is right up your alley.
The book does meander a lot but that is the point as many of the stories of early America do tend to intersect and the same names keep popping up over and over for different reasons.
January 8, 2016
An amazing amount of historical trivia from prehistoric archaeology to rocket science, the scope and inclusion of the material in this book is overwhelming – some is fascinating and other parts not so much. Of course every reader will have their own favorite parts in such a book, and perhaps only the writer and those with a wider range of tolerance for a book of such varied subjects will truly appreciate the entire contents.
My favorite part was the section on inventions and technological advancements. Also appreciated the author's interest in finding and preserving history.
My favorite part was the section on inventions and technological advancements. Also appreciated the author's interest in finding and preserving history.
September 3, 2018
Interesting and well written. Sort of a “On The Road with Charles Kuralt” format filled with little known but historically significant persons, places and events. Carroll hunts down forgotten people and locations that have had a significant influence on well known historic events. He not only tells of his journey, the challenges, the people he meets, but also gives an intriguing history lesson.
June 24, 2013
I really enjoyed this one! It was a good read for summer, as there's a "history road trip" feel to the whole thing as Carroll travels the U.S. in search of sites where lesser-known historical events occurred. He picks a good variety of events and keeps things moving at a enjoyable pace. Highly recommended!
April 17, 2020
What a fun read. Carroll travels around the country, telling history stories--from a Japanese bomber who crashed on a Hawaiian island on December 7, 1941, to the scientists who took penicillin and made it usable for the masses to the preservation of the Alamo and what happened to some of the original printings of the Declaration of Independence.
Carroll does a good job tying the stories together and somehow making them flow from one into another. The 450 pages flew by. He balanced entertainment with discussion, for example, of a conservationist who helped save the Redwoods but who was ALSO a horrible racist who literally wrote the book on eugenics. This book will provide readers with trivia tidbits as well as insight into the scope of American history.
Star taken off for the inexplicable lack of pictures, make more egregious by Carroll's frequent mentions of taking pictures at the various places he went. Sure, most of these places are little more than parking lots or empty fields, but it would still be nice to see.
Carroll does a good job tying the stories together and somehow making them flow from one into another. The 450 pages flew by. He balanced entertainment with discussion, for example, of a conservationist who helped save the Redwoods but who was ALSO a horrible racist who literally wrote the book on eugenics. This book will provide readers with trivia tidbits as well as insight into the scope of American history.
Star taken off for the inexplicable lack of pictures, make more egregious by Carroll's frequent mentions of taking pictures at the various places he went. Sure, most of these places are little more than parking lots or empty fields, but it would still be nice to see.
May 8, 2019
I love history. I read history, I study history, I have my degree in it, I've volunteered at my local history museum for 6 year (which, to my surprise, the museum is listed in this book as a special thanks along with the curator and my old professor). I'm that gal that stands at any given spot and wonders "What happened here? Who was here? Stood here before me?" This book was for me. I enjoy learning about the "little" facts, the forgotten past. The stories were informative and fascinating. And I'm slightly jealous of the author's journey to find more history. I wish there had been some pictures added in. The author writes quite frequently about photographing sites and I would have loved to see them, even if the original historical building/event/person was no longer. I would love to see him write another book in the same vein!
June 30, 2023
All the stars for this one! So well-researched and well-written, my inner history nerd loved all the little nuggets in each chapter. Did you know the inventor of cruise control was blind from childhood? I didn’t. But now I do. I could talk your ear off about this book, so just read it so I don’t have to.
September 16, 2018
When I started listening to this book I wasn't at all sure I liked it, but the narrator was pleasant and so I kept listening. I got really involved and fascinated by it and thoroughly enjoyed the narrator's personality and the people he talked to. The not-well-known historical incidents/discoveries, etc. are generally quite interesting. I found myself telling friends and family members about it. And, by the way, (hopefully I'm not forgetting anything here) it seems to me the sort of audiobook one could listen to on a family road trip.
September 12, 2018
A fun read through some quirks of American History. Maybe fun isn't the right word, since some of the vignettes Carroll returns are awful, but it's entertaining throughout.
August 21, 2018
A Review of the Audiobook
Published by Random House Audio in 2013.
Read by the author, Andrew Carroll.
Duration: 14 hours, 2 minutes.
Unabridged.
Why are some things remembered in our shared historical memory and others are not? Why do we commemorate some things but others are only remembered by a few hard-core local historians?
Andrew Carroll compiled a list of historical locations that he felt have been overlooked. Inspired by the little known-but-true story of how Abraham Lincoln's son was saved from being pushed off of New Jersey train platform by John Wilkes Booth's brother one year before Lincoln's assassination, Carroll decided to hit the road and look at similar locations all over the United States.
Among the locations he found were the home of a house slave that ran away from President George Washington. Even though she ended up dying in poverty in a rough cabin, she was still an inspiration. When asked if she would have been better off living in the relative comfort of working in the Mount Vernon plantation home, she said she would prefer to be poor and free.
Carroll also found the birthplace of the man who created a great deal of the vaccinations that the world uses today and had a hand in literally saving millions of lives. And, on the other side of that coin, he tracked down the probable origins of the "Spanish Influenza" (in the American West, not in Spain).
How about the location of...
Read more at: http://dwdsreviews.blogspot.com/2018/...
Published by Random House Audio in 2013.
Read by the author, Andrew Carroll.
Duration: 14 hours, 2 minutes.
Unabridged.
Why are some things remembered in our shared historical memory and others are not? Why do we commemorate some things but others are only remembered by a few hard-core local historians?
Andrew Carroll compiled a list of historical locations that he felt have been overlooked. Inspired by the little known-but-true story of how Abraham Lincoln's son was saved from being pushed off of New Jersey train platform by John Wilkes Booth's brother one year before Lincoln's assassination, Carroll decided to hit the road and look at similar locations all over the United States.
Among the locations he found were the home of a house slave that ran away from President George Washington. Even though she ended up dying in poverty in a rough cabin, she was still an inspiration. When asked if she would have been better off living in the relative comfort of working in the Mount Vernon plantation home, she said she would prefer to be poor and free.
Carroll also found the birthplace of the man who created a great deal of the vaccinations that the world uses today and had a hand in literally saving millions of lives. And, on the other side of that coin, he tracked down the probable origins of the "Spanish Influenza" (in the American West, not in Spain).
How about the location of...
Read more at: http://dwdsreviews.blogspot.com/2018/...
September 28, 2013
Signs that you, too, will love Andrew Carroll's Here Is Where: Discovering America's Great Forgotten History:
1) You are a fan of Sarah Vowell and Susan Orlean, and/or
2) You have no idea who I'm talking about, but you enjoy American history, and/or
3) You enjoy learning about history in non-traditional ways, such as watching History Detectives on PBS or Who Do You Think You Are? on TLC (i.e., hated in school but probably just because it was presented poorly), and/or
4) You had a dad who wanted to stop at every historical marker when you were a kid, and you were irritated by this, but now you, too, pull over for historical markers.
When I was a young journalist at a daily in small Illinois city, one of the guiding principles my editors espoused was that every person has a story. I soon came to develop my own, related mantra, which is that every person has a story, and so does every place. Andrew Carroll surely believes this, too, and his travels across the country reveal that just about every spot on the map is worth exploring. You just might live on the same street, or even in the same house, where the instigator of a landmark court case, or developer of an important vaccine, once lived.
Now, granted, I might have just a tad bit more of a jones for nerdy historical trivia than the average bear. At the aforementioned newspaper, (in Galesburg, Ill,), I developed and wrote a weekly column for two years that focused on the truth behind local legends such as the origin of the Reuben sandwich and the spot where the Marx Brothers were officially christened with their nicknames.
(And, fascinatingly, one chapter in Here is Where details the role that scientists in Peoria, Ill.--not far from where I grew up, and the same oft-maligned city of "Will it play in Peoria?" fame--played in the history of penicillin. And the closest connection to where I'm currently living, [in Bettendorf, Iowa], is Carroll's exploration of the Des Moines debut of the "horseless carriage.")
Despite encompassing a remarkable amount of research, the history of each forgotten-but-important spot is told in an engaging way, with little teasers at the end of each chapter to keep you interested to see where Carroll is headed to next.
True, it's a lengthy read, with some chapters proving to be more memorable than others. Two of my favorites were Richard "Two Gun" Hart's House, (about a lawman with an incredible family secret), and "Hart's Island," (which, despite the name, is not connected to the aforementioned Hart), a spot of land in New York with a morbidly fascinating purpose.
But it's an entertaining read, especially if you identify with any one of my above Top 4. (And by the way, there may soon be lots more markers for you to pull over to read, thanks to Carroll's work.)
1) You are a fan of Sarah Vowell and Susan Orlean, and/or
2) You have no idea who I'm talking about, but you enjoy American history, and/or
3) You enjoy learning about history in non-traditional ways, such as watching History Detectives on PBS or Who Do You Think You Are? on TLC (i.e., hated in school but probably just because it was presented poorly), and/or
4) You had a dad who wanted to stop at every historical marker when you were a kid, and you were irritated by this, but now you, too, pull over for historical markers.
When I was a young journalist at a daily in small Illinois city, one of the guiding principles my editors espoused was that every person has a story. I soon came to develop my own, related mantra, which is that every person has a story, and so does every place. Andrew Carroll surely believes this, too, and his travels across the country reveal that just about every spot on the map is worth exploring. You just might live on the same street, or even in the same house, where the instigator of a landmark court case, or developer of an important vaccine, once lived.
Now, granted, I might have just a tad bit more of a jones for nerdy historical trivia than the average bear. At the aforementioned newspaper, (in Galesburg, Ill,), I developed and wrote a weekly column for two years that focused on the truth behind local legends such as the origin of the Reuben sandwich and the spot where the Marx Brothers were officially christened with their nicknames.
(And, fascinatingly, one chapter in Here is Where details the role that scientists in Peoria, Ill.--not far from where I grew up, and the same oft-maligned city of "Will it play in Peoria?" fame--played in the history of penicillin. And the closest connection to where I'm currently living, [in Bettendorf, Iowa], is Carroll's exploration of the Des Moines debut of the "horseless carriage.")
Despite encompassing a remarkable amount of research, the history of each forgotten-but-important spot is told in an engaging way, with little teasers at the end of each chapter to keep you interested to see where Carroll is headed to next.
True, it's a lengthy read, with some chapters proving to be more memorable than others. Two of my favorites were Richard "Two Gun" Hart's House, (about a lawman with an incredible family secret), and "Hart's Island," (which, despite the name, is not connected to the aforementioned Hart), a spot of land in New York with a morbidly fascinating purpose.
But it's an entertaining read, especially if you identify with any one of my above Top 4. (And by the way, there may soon be lots more markers for you to pull over to read, thanks to Carroll's work.)
August 21, 2018
Fascinating information and well written for easy reading. Listed were many names I was not familiar with, and many others I knew. I did not know of Justice Felix Frankfurter who said: "National unity is the basis of national security" and "The flag is the symbol of our unity, transcending all differences, however large, within the framework of the constitution," which are still as valid today as they were in 1940. But I am very familiar with Albert Einstein who said, "A foolish faith in authority is the worst enemy of the truth." When tracking down Daniel Boone's final resting place (there a purportedly two), the author describes him as "moreso than presidents Washington, Adams, and Jefferson or any other political figure back then -- symbolized in the US and abroad the quintessential American: self-made, rugged, independent, frugal, lacking pretense or pride, forever on the move, always exploring." Carroll touches upon all aspects of the country from beauty, American inventions, and historical pride, to our darker history such as racism, bad medicine, crime, and death. This is a good source of American history not found in the usual books.
June 3, 2015
Review title: Where is here? Whereever we looked last.
The old saying that you always find a lost item in the last place you look is of course an obvious truth--once you've found the thing, you stop looking. Bug it also conveys the notion that we usually don't find lost things in the first place we look either, even if the lost object is right under our noses. There is a mental as well as a physical element of finding lost things, and sometimes we can't find things even though we are looking right at them (or through them, if you have everlooked for the lost glasses you were wearing!).
So when Andrew Carroll set off in search of lost things in American history he found some of each: places that had truly disappeared because no one had remembered to mark or commemorate them, and some that no one wanted to remember even though they were hiding in plain view. While this is no dull history survey or travelogue of boring roadside attractions (far from that!) Carroll does a good job of pausing along his journey and pondering (and asking) why these sites are not honored. As he admits in his planning and in his afterword, both his writing style and planning were somewhat peripatetic, but in this collection it makes sense and adds to the sense of adventure as the reader never knows what may lie around the corner and how it may relate to where we are know, both on the map and in the book.
He begins at the far edge of the map at the most remote island in the Hawaiian chain, which also happens to be the largest privately owned island in the world, and the place where a Japanese pilot crash landed on December 7, 1941--after dropping his bombs on Pearl Harbor. And the place where the island's owners and workers kept the pilot captive--until two workers of Japanese decent helped him escape. The attempt failed, but the behavior of the Japanese workers was cited in later decisions to confiscate Japanese-American property and imprison these citizens on the US mainland. Carroll effortlessly shows us the interest of the event, why it matters, and why we might choose not to commemorate it.
The book is full of connections like this. Carroll organizes his sites into rough groupings (exploring America, exploiting the land, landmark lawsuits, technology and invention, medical cures and malpractices, and burial plots) and connects them within but also across the groups. None of this is boring, in fact it is fun and compelling reading as Carroll weaves together his preparatory research, his onsite adventures, and his own observations and asides into a truly page-turning account. While I am a sucker for this kind of writing, I find it likely that even the least. interested reader would get sucked in just like I did. In fact, this is the kind of writing that if used in the high school or college classroom would make history exciting for students against their own best intentions!
The old saying that you always find a lost item in the last place you look is of course an obvious truth--once you've found the thing, you stop looking. Bug it also conveys the notion that we usually don't find lost things in the first place we look either, even if the lost object is right under our noses. There is a mental as well as a physical element of finding lost things, and sometimes we can't find things even though we are looking right at them (or through them, if you have everlooked for the lost glasses you were wearing!).
So when Andrew Carroll set off in search of lost things in American history he found some of each: places that had truly disappeared because no one had remembered to mark or commemorate them, and some that no one wanted to remember even though they were hiding in plain view. While this is no dull history survey or travelogue of boring roadside attractions (far from that!) Carroll does a good job of pausing along his journey and pondering (and asking) why these sites are not honored. As he admits in his planning and in his afterword, both his writing style and planning were somewhat peripatetic, but in this collection it makes sense and adds to the sense of adventure as the reader never knows what may lie around the corner and how it may relate to where we are know, both on the map and in the book.
He begins at the far edge of the map at the most remote island in the Hawaiian chain, which also happens to be the largest privately owned island in the world, and the place where a Japanese pilot crash landed on December 7, 1941--after dropping his bombs on Pearl Harbor. And the place where the island's owners and workers kept the pilot captive--until two workers of Japanese decent helped him escape. The attempt failed, but the behavior of the Japanese workers was cited in later decisions to confiscate Japanese-American property and imprison these citizens on the US mainland. Carroll effortlessly shows us the interest of the event, why it matters, and why we might choose not to commemorate it.
The book is full of connections like this. Carroll organizes his sites into rough groupings (exploring America, exploiting the land, landmark lawsuits, technology and invention, medical cures and malpractices, and burial plots) and connects them within but also across the groups. None of this is boring, in fact it is fun and compelling reading as Carroll weaves together his preparatory research, his onsite adventures, and his own observations and asides into a truly page-turning account. While I am a sucker for this kind of writing, I find it likely that even the least. interested reader would get sucked in just like I did. In fact, this is the kind of writing that if used in the high school or college classroom would make history exciting for students against their own best intentions!
August 4, 2018
I used to give historic tours and worked at more than one museum, so reading things like this are enjoyable to me. I've also experienced the astonishment of driving somewhere (for example, the site of the Battle of Wounded Knee in the late 1980s; I understand that has changed now) and finding - nothing. No placque, no memorial, nothing. This is the focus of the book, traveling to places where something important happened but no one seems to recall it.
This leads to the first thing I disliked about the book. He took numerous photos of these places. NONE were in the paperback copy I read. I understand that some of these places have privacy concerns, for instance the place in Sonoma that was infamous for perpetuating the worst abuses of the era of eugenics, is still a home for disabled people, so you wouldn't want people going there as tourist. However, the school sued for forcing kids to say the pledge of allegiance? Why not show us a photo of that, it's no longer a school.
Lastly, a language pet peeve. When you are writing, particularly non-fiction, words are your tools and should be used properly. When you are using a word directly associated with your topic, you definitely need to get it right. The first time I saw the word mis-used, I thought he was quoting someone so I just said "huh, that person seems to know a lot of history and should know the correct word" and moved on. However, I repeatedly noticed after that he referred to DESCENDANTS of this or that historical figure, as ANCESTORS.
an·ces·tor
noun
a person, typically one more remote than a grandparent, from whom one is descended.
"my ancestor Admiral Anson circumnavigated the globe 250 years ago"
synonyms: forebear, forefather, predecessor, antecedent, progenitor, primogenitor
"he could trace his ancestors back to colonial Boston"
antonyms: descendant, successor
This really made me question the accuracy of the book. Maybe I am hung up on the two words but they have OPPOSITE meanings and are very important if you are talking about history.
Positive: I really enjoyed the story about the hijacking near Provo Utah which I had never heard about despite having seen some documentaries about an associated crime and I think it should be a movie in and of itself.
This leads to the first thing I disliked about the book. He took numerous photos of these places. NONE were in the paperback copy I read. I understand that some of these places have privacy concerns, for instance the place in Sonoma that was infamous for perpetuating the worst abuses of the era of eugenics, is still a home for disabled people, so you wouldn't want people going there as tourist. However, the school sued for forcing kids to say the pledge of allegiance? Why not show us a photo of that, it's no longer a school.
Lastly, a language pet peeve. When you are writing, particularly non-fiction, words are your tools and should be used properly. When you are using a word directly associated with your topic, you definitely need to get it right. The first time I saw the word mis-used, I thought he was quoting someone so I just said "huh, that person seems to know a lot of history and should know the correct word" and moved on. However, I repeatedly noticed after that he referred to DESCENDANTS of this or that historical figure, as ANCESTORS.
an·ces·tor
noun
a person, typically one more remote than a grandparent, from whom one is descended.
"my ancestor Admiral Anson circumnavigated the globe 250 years ago"
synonyms: forebear, forefather, predecessor, antecedent, progenitor, primogenitor
"he could trace his ancestors back to colonial Boston"
antonyms: descendant, successor
This really made me question the accuracy of the book. Maybe I am hung up on the two words but they have OPPOSITE meanings and are very important if you are talking about history.
Positive: I really enjoyed the story about the hijacking near Provo Utah which I had never heard about despite having seen some documentaries about an associated crime and I think it should be a movie in and of itself.
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