Invisible Giants: Fifty Americans Who Shaped the Nation but Missed the History Books

by Mark C. Carnes (Editor)

History records the accomplishments of individuals. For successive generations of Americans, iconic figures such as Abraham Lincoln, Susan B. Anthony, Thomas Edison, and Emily Dickinson have been household names and role models, inspiring us all by the lessons their lives teach us. But some great Americans, just as worthy, never attain this recognition. Because history is as fallible as the people who record it, many of those who shaped the nation and its future have receded from public memory. In celebration of these lives-and to demonstrate the lasting power history's giants have over their successors-Oxford University Press recently asked fifty accomplished personalities from a diverse range of industries and interests to each select a person from the 24-volume American National Biography that they felt deserved more attention. The biographies of these forgotten figures appear alongside the often-personal comments of their selectors in Invisible Giants, a varied and lively collection of portraits celebrating history's forgotten and fading heroes.
In Invisible Giants we discover the man who inspired Sherwin Nuland to become a doctor, the writer Jacques Barzun considers America's first cultural critic, and the woman who taught Tina Brown to bare her teeth. We learn of the poetry recited to Henry Louis Gates, Jr., as a boy, the magazine Helen Gurley Brown required every one of her editors to subscribe to, and the book Andy Rooney deems "better than the Bible and easier to understand." Whether encountering these figures for the first time or uncovering surprising details in the lives you thought you knew, today's public thinkers guide us on a journey into the deep folds of our rich biographical tapestry.
Edited by Mark Carnes and published with the American Council of Learned Societies, Invisible Giants introduces one of the nation's most treasured resources--The American National Biography--to a broad audience by presenting the architects of our country's past through the eyes of the architects of its future.
Invisible Giants includes: James Agee (Sven Birkets)
Jessie Daniel Ames (Alan Brinkley)
Rodger Nash Baldwin (Richard Avedon)
Bela Bartok (John Simon)
Sterling Brown (Sharon Olds)
John Jay Chapman (Jacques Barzun)
John England (Andrew Greeley)
Oliver Evans (Harold Evans)
Dorothy Fields (David Lehman)
Charles Grandison Finney (Edmund Morgan)
Arthur Goldberg (Alan Dershowitz)
Adolphus Washington Greely (Simon Winchester)
Charles Tomlinson Griffes (Wayne Koestenbaum)
William Halsted (Sherwin Nuland)
Fannie Lou Hamer (Gloria Steinem)
Handsome Lake (Wilma Mankiller)
Herman Haupt (James McPherson)
DuBois Heyward (Stephen Sondheim)
Henry Hornbostel (Michael Graves)
James Gibbons Huneker (Gary Giddins)
Libbie Henrietta Hyman (Steven Jay Gould)
Christopher Isherwood (Armistead Maupin)
Walter Lippmann (Andy Rooney)
Melvin Beaunorus Tolson (Rita Dove)
Bronislava Nijinska (Joan Acocella)
Albert Jay Nock (William F. Buckley, Jr.)
Fairfield Porter (Hilton Kramer)
Dawn Powell (Fran Lebowitz)
Bayard Rustin (Evan Wolfson)
Sequoyah (William Least Heat-Moon)
James McCune Smith (Henry Louis Gates, Jr.)
Joseph Smith (Harold Bloom)
Ida B. Wells-Barnett (Tina Brown)
Dewitt Wallace (Helen Gurley Brown)
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Genres: Nonfiction, History

336 pages, Hardcover

First published May 16, 2002

About the author

Mark C. Carnes is Professor of History at Barnard College.

Reviews

[Jeffrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great compilation of our country's unsung heroes. Many of the names I'd previously been familiar with, but many were a refreshing introduction.

This title was loaned to me by a fellow librarian in the hope of broadening my scope of knowledge in regards to the numbers of historically forgotten contributors to America.

I resigned myself purchase this title as I'll find it an invaluable resource in my personal library.

Thanks Rafa, a MOS DEF good read!

[Barbara · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was o.k., but I would not necessarily recommend it. Some of these short biographical sketches were interesting, but many were not. The main drawback to this book was that all of the sketches read more like a dictionary entry; they are very factual and brief, with very little interesting, anecdotal information. The other factor that made the book less enjoyable to me might not bother others: In my opinion most of the people chosen to be featured in the book were not people I could personally look up to or learn from. Many were either notorious in some way and/or former members of the Socialist or Communist parties in the United States, which does not interest me at all. I did finish the book, as a few of the personalities featured did interest me.

[Awjtf · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting people you might not have heard about. Some are famous.

[Mark Luongo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some interesting stories taken from the American National Biography and definitely not names you spend time on in the classroom. It depends on the reader to decide if in fact these individuals are "Invisible Giants." I found George Bancroft, Dorothy Fields, Nathaniel Greene, Herman Haupt, Rocky Marciano, Sequoyah, Emma Goldman and Frank Woolworth of particular interest The rest in my opinion are marginal and I leave it up to others to decide.

[Sue · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book was nicely planned, and looked good, but none of these people sparked my interest.

Appears to be cheap knock-off version of Secret Heroes by Paul Martin. His book got a five-star rating from me, because that's what I expected.

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very well-written set of short bio-sketches of Americans that we should know better.