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A review by bowienerd_82
Here Is Where: Discovering America's Great Forgotten History by Andrew Carroll
4.0
This is totally my jam: stories about the people that inhabit our history, and the fact that a lot of these people are largely overlooked or forgotten only made it more fascinating. I had no idea that one man developed a huge chunk of our commonly used vaccines (Maurice Hilleman), or that the Goddard Space Flight Center was only named that after a patent infringement settlement. This book is chock full of dozens of people and events I'd never heard of, but was delighted to learn about.
A couple of minor complaints kept this from being a 5-star book:
1) The tone. Carroll comes off as a bit smug and patronizing at times, especially when the people around him knew nothing about the local historical figure or event he was researching. I'm kind of surprised he didn't get slapped at least once or twice during his travels for this book.
2) The organization (or lack thereof). The book is kind of arranged thematically, but the way it jumps all over the place both in terms of geography and chronology drove me a little crazy. I would have most liked to see it in the order of places Carroll went, but any sort of more involved organization would have been appreciated.
Otherwise, though, a delight to read, and a book I am glad to own, as I will definitely be referring back to it in the future.
A couple of minor complaints kept this from being a 5-star book:
1) The tone. Carroll comes off as a bit smug and patronizing at times, especially when the people around him knew nothing about the local historical figure or event he was researching. I'm kind of surprised he didn't get slapped at least once or twice during his travels for this book.
2) The organization (or lack thereof). The book is kind of arranged thematically, but the way it jumps all over the place both in terms of geography and chronology drove me a little crazy. I would have most liked to see it in the order of places Carroll went, but any sort of more involved organization would have been appreciated.
Otherwise, though, a delight to read, and a book I am glad to own, as I will definitely be referring back to it in the future.