Forgotten Heroes: Inspiring American Portraits from Our Leading Historians

by Susan Ware, Society of American Historians Staff

Chronicles the history of men and women who played a significant role in American history but who have been left out of textbooks

Genres: Biography, History, Nonfiction

384 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Susan Ware, celebrated feminist historian and biographer, is the author of American Women’s History: A Very Short Introduction and Letter to the World: Seven Women Who Shaped the American Century, among other books. She is the editor of American Women’s Suffrage: Voices from the Long Struggle for the Vote, 1776–1965 and is Honorary Women’s Suffrage Centennial Historian at Radcliffe’s Schlesinger Library.

Reviews

[Mitch · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book as a counterweight to another book that was a series of short pieces on little-known American bad guys. It sort of served that purpose...

For some reason, reading these accounts of those that various writers designated as heroes/heroines actually depressed me. This was because many of their lives were hard fought against people who vigorously defended injustice and bigotry...as they still do today. Why is it that in America so many fight so desperately to save evil things? Slavery, now condemned, was defended once to the death. These days Americans are desperately defending owning automatic weapons even though they have been used repeatedly to slaughter innocent children. It's depressing. I guess there will be new heroes and heroines arising from this too.

Additionally, this book showed the fleetingness of fame and the fortunes that often accompanied it.

It also showed that some 'heroes/heroines' were very flawed human beings.

Sadly I note this: out of 35 biographical pieces, only three involved men writing about women or women about men. Apparently their subjects drew the most attention from those of their own sex and possibly color. There's a statement there.

This book is good in giving information about little-known historical occurrences and people, but I am not a big enthusiast for historical accounts of American civil liberties, feminist, sports, war, black issues, etc. Anyone who is would probably enjoy reading this.

[Teresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a really cool random find. I love reading about US History and this profiled some very interesting people that missed getting into the history text books. There were a few people that were profiled that I wouldn't necessarily call Heroes but they were certainly very interesting people that had a long term impact on America in some way.

[Jill H. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting book which covers the lives and historic contributions to American history of some fairly unknown and forgotten people.. With an introduction by David McCullough, each chapter is a stand-alone about the subject and written by a different historian. Some of the persons in this book you have heard of but most are practically unknown in the present day. Each one offered some service to the United States, whether in the classification of the Library of Congress book system or baseball or civil/women's rights. It can be read fairly quickly and is worth looking for at the library. I would recommend it as a supplement to your knowledge of American history.

[Sarah Bodaly · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book gave short biographical sketches on 35 men and women that the authors and editor considered to be heroes, but history had forgotten. The first several, further back in history, were pretty interesting. War heroes and such. As the timeline progressed, so did the definition, and folks became heroes for just being a certain color, gender, or sexual identity. In my dictionary, simply being does not make one a hero, and I’d also challenge the notion of little-known sports stars being named heroes, on the same metric as people who saved lives. Pass.

[Aisha Manus · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the variety of people mentioned in this book, from sports to Politics to Hollywood, there was a forgotten hero for everyone. I couldn't give it a 5 though only cause a few essays were a bit dry or dull. Haha! As a History major I really liked learning about new things and some of the people I found extremely interesting and I now plan to study them more, find ways to incorporate them into papers I have to write for my classes. I definitely recommend this book!

[George · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting book which covers the lives and historic contributions to American history of some fairly unknown and forgotten people. Most were unknown to me, which is the purpose of reading the book. However, I was distressed that their contribution was actually only covered tangentially in explaining the situation. For example, George Druillard, a member of the Lewis and Clark expedition--most time was spent on L&C, not the subject, George. Good book, though.

[Joy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved some of the choices this book introduced & other choices, I would have not included.

[Peter · Rating 2 out of 5]

This collection was very choppy. A few of the essays are well written, but many just seemed thrown together. Perhaps it was a function of the length limitations, but the sign of a good writer is someone who can write well in short form as well as long. I didn’t get that for many of these. Some of the essays for American heroes I am familiar with, such as Knox, were very frustrating, as they did not sustain my interest as much as I would have expected. (Sarah Vowell, in her book on Lafayette and the American Revolution, is better on Knox.) Other heroes I felt sorry for, because their essays did not have the punch I sensed they deserved.
I was also saddened by the fact that this copy came used having been remaindered from the U.S. Air Force Library, apparently. Forgotten heroes contained in a forgotten book. And that, as you may gather, is because this book is easily forgettable.

[Tamara · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting book full of stories about long forgotten figures in American history. Some I have heard of before and did not know their stories. Others, I did not know … But their story frequently had an unknown influenced on our country. One story is about Mary Dyer. The woman in the 1600 that just would not shut up. A woman that would draw crowds to listen to talk about the injustices of the "Puritan" system. She was arrested and prosecuted repeatedly. When she would be sentenced to be hanged, her husband would arrive to take her away with a promise to keep her far far away. Only, she would make her way back to town with more speeches…. Eventually, she was hanged. But these events and others were a catalyst for our country adopting the First Amendment to the Constitution for the freedom of speech.

The quality of the writing varies based on the author because there are multiple writers throughout this book. Some chapters are excellent … and others are big snooze-fest. But the stories about the individuals are what is important.

The nice thing about this book is that you can pick it up and read for 30 minutes about a single character. Put the book down and return in a few months and you haven't lost anything…. Actually, I have been working my way through this book for several years. Reading it on/off between other books. Now that I am finished, I look forward to the day I randomly pull it off the shelf for a short read to remember our Forgotten Heros.

[Grant · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating collection of short essays on "heroes" that are not prominent in American history or popular culture. As each historian chose their own definition of "hero," the choices are charmingly idiosyncratic, ranging from military figures to civil rights workers to athletes. Almost everyone reading this volume will find someone of whom they had never previously heard. The authors are in particular to be commended for showing their heroes with flaws, sometimes the very flaws that led to them being forgotten.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think it's great when a group of people make the effort to compile bios on individuals that could have easily been famous for their great accomplishments, yet fell by the public-opinion-way-side due to multifarious situations. I only wish I could remember which individuals were covered in this book!

[Shawn · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't think all of these people should be given hero status. There wasn't a strong common thread other than these people were 100% American in the fact that they beat the odds fighting against them.

[P Freeman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of people I've never heard of that helped shape America. It's good that their story was written down