Forgotten Heroes

by Susan Ware

• ISBN13: 9780684843759
• ISBN10: 0684843757
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 1999-07-13
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Summary

The pages of the past are full of characters who remind us that history depends upon the great deeds of men and women, whether famous or humble. Where would America be without George Washington, or Daniel Boone, or Sojourner Truth, or Babe Ruth? Where would we be without so many characters who are less well remembered today? Historians and biographers regularly come across stories of little-known or forgotten heroes, and this book provides a chance to rescue some of the best of them. In Forgotten Heroes, thirty-five of the country's leading historians recount their favorite stories of underappreciated Americans. From Stephen Jay Gould on deaf baseball player Dummy Hoy; to William Leuchtenburg on the truth behind the legendary Johnny Appleseed; to Christine Stansell on Margaret Anderson, who published James Joyce's Ulysses; these portraits can be read equally for delight, instruction, and inspiration Taken together, however, the whole is much more than the sum of its parts. Every culture needs heroes who lead by example and uplift us all in the process. Too often lately, historians have been more intent on picking apart the reputations of previously revered Americans. At times it has seemed as if the academy were on the attack against much of its own culture, denying its past greatness while making heroes only of its dissidents and doubters. Yet as this collection vividly demonstrates, heroes come in many shapes and sizes, and we all gain when we remember and celebrate them. Forgotten Heroes includes nearly as many women as men, and nearly as many people from before 1900 as after. It expands the traditional definition of hero to encompass not only military figures and politicians who took risks for great causes, but also educators, religious leaders, reformers, labor leaders, publishers, athletes, and even a man who started a record company. Many of them were heroes of conscience -- men and women who insisted on doing the right thing, no matter how unpopular or risky, commanding respect even from those who disagreed. Some were famous in their day and have since been forgotten, or remembered only in caricature. Others were little-known even when alive -- yet they all deserve to be remembered today, especially at the gifted hands of the authors of this book.

Author Biography

The Society of American Historians was founded in 1939 by Allan Nevins and several other authors to encourage literary distinction in the writing of history and biography. Its membership is limited to 250 elected fellows. David McCullough was the thirteenth president of the Society, succeeded in May 1998 by Kenneth T. Jackson.

Table of Contents

FOREWORD BY DAVID McCULLOUGH	xi	(4)
TIMELINE	xv
Introduction: Historians Forgotten Heroes	1	(8)
Susan Ware
John Chapman (Johnny Appleseed)	9	(8)
William E. Leuchtenburg
Henry Knox's Wilderness Epic	17	(10)
Tom Wicker
Mary Dyer: Religious Martyr	27	(8)
Patricia U. Bonomi
Robert Basset: A Drumbeat for Liberty	35	(10)
William S. McFeely
Thomas Peters: Millwright and Deliverer	45	(12)
Gary B. Nash
James A. Bayard: Savior of the Constitution	57	(10)
James M. Banner, Jr.
John Quincy Adams: The Failed President Whose Real Triumphs Should Be Known	67	(8)
Alfred Kazin
Nicholas Trist: The Disobedient Diplomat	75	(10)
Thomas Fleming
George Drouillard: Mountain Man	85	(10)
Robert M. Utley
Susie King Taylor: A Black Woman's Civil War	95	(8)
Catherine Clinton
Myra Colby Bradwell: Champion of Women's Legal Rights	103	(8)
Jean Harvey Baker
Victoria Woodhull: Free Love in the Feminine, First-Person Singular	111	(10)
Helen Lefkowitz Horowitz
Emmeline B. Wells: Mormon Feminist and Journalist	121	(8)
Leonard J. Arrington
The Amazing Dummy	129	(14)
Stephen Jay Gould
John McLuckie: Burgess of Homestead	143	(10)
David Brody
Florence Kelley Campaigns against Sweatshops in the 1890s	153	(8)
Kathryn Kish Sklar
George Dewey: Naval Hero and Political Disaster	161	(8)
Justin Kaplan
Local Hero: J. C. M. Hanson and the Politics of Library Classification	169	(8)
Neil Harris
William Chandler Bagley: Dr. Know of American Education	177	(8)
Diane Ravitch
O. Delight Smith: A Labor Organizer's Odyssey	185	(10)
Jacquelyn Dowd Hall
"Brave about Words": Margaret Anderson and the Ulysses Trial	195	(8)
Christine Stansell
Ned Cobb: He Stood His Ground	203	(8)
Jacqueline Jones
Carlo Tresca: "Every Inch a Fighter"	211	(10)
John Patrick Diggins
Alice Paul: Friend and Foe of the Equal Rights Amendment	221	(10)
Joan Hoff
Samuel Seabury: The Man Who Rode the Tiger	231	(10)
Herbert Mitgang
Edward Prichard: Forgotten New Dealer	241	(10)
Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.
Caroline F. Ware: Crusader for Social Justice	251	(8)
Thomas Dublin
Lew Ayres: Conscience in Hollywood	259	(10)
Bernard A. Weisberger
The Trials of Miriam Van Waters	269	(10)
Estelle B. Freedman
Pauli Murray and the Killing of Jane Crow	279	(10)
Rosalind Rosenberg
Sam Phillips: Southern Visionary	289	(12)
Joel Williamson
Hazel Brannon Smith: White Martyr for Civil Rights	301	(8)
Kathleen Brady
Gertrude Ederle: "America's Best Girl"	309	(10)
Susan Ware
"Manila John" of Guadalcanal: Hero of the Pacific War	319	(10)
Kenneth T. Jackson
Frederick Funston: A Song of Rage	329	(10)
Mark C. Carnes
SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING	339	(6)
ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS	345	(6)
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS	351
INDEX