11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A New Yorker (Belatedly) Discovers America, April 2, 2003
This review is from: American Places (Common Reader Editions) (Paperback)
I came to this book with anticipation, but also with some reservations. The anticipation derived from my admiration for Zinsser's elegant small classic, "On Writing Well." I thought it would be interesting to see this well-known writing instructor show what he could do in recounting visits to a series of "iconic" American natural or historic sites.
My reservations stemmed from the basic premise underlying the book - Zinsser's decision to visit, for the first time in his life, 15 sites that are widely considered to reflect something fundamental about America's sense of its national identity. I knew enough about Zinsser to guess that in 1990-91, when he made the trips described in this book, he was probably well into his sixties. You have to wonder a little about an otherwise worldly American who has passed more than threescore years without feeling impelled to check out most of this country's best-known natural or historic attractions. This personal uneasiness about Zinsser was intensified when he acknowledged on page 2 that in addition to the 15 places he visited when writing this book, as of 1990 he had also never visited Independence Hall, Plymouth Rock, Gettysburg, or the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C.
That led me to wonder how a native New Yorker with long-time roots in New England could have failed during his childhood to visit at least a smattering of the country's best-known historical sites, many of which are concentrated along the Boston-New York-Washington corridor. And what kind of person who enjoyed travel would avoid visiting most of this country's best-known attractions for almost his entire adult life? It was hard to avoid the conclusion that Zinsser missed visiting these places earlier because he was affirmatively determined to avoid them.
All of that might lead you to wonder whether this book should more appropriately have been subtitled, "A New York Intellectual Goes to See Where the Rest of Us Spend Our Vacations." But bear with Zinsser. He is hindered at times by the surprising parochialism that afflicts many eastern intellectuals. In particular, he appears to have no understanding of, or appreciation for, this country's military traditions. This weakness is reflected in his decision to omit Gettysburg from his list of "iconic" sites to visit; in his difficulty appreciating the hold that the Alamo has over the emotions of many Americans; and in his remarkable admission - for a member of the World War II generation, no less - that when he visited Pearl Harbor for the first time, he hadn't the foggiest idea of what the "Arizona Memorial" was.
Nevertheless, on the evidence of this book, Zinsser is also modest, inquisitive, and generally open-minded and empathetic. And he is an excellent reporter. His methodology here is simple. He visits and summarizes what is to be seen at the site (with no attempt at lyricism for its own sake); traces the course of its development as a tourist mecca; and then asks those who work at the place how they account for its popularity.
It would be easy to sneer or condescend at Mount Rushmore, for example - by today's more environmentally conscious lights, it is a bizarre desecration of nature - but Zinsser does neither. His account of Rushmore's creator, the sculptor Gutzon Borglum, is written with wry appreciation and real sensitivity. His chapter about the Wright Brothers and their achievement on North Carolina's windswept Outer Banks is an unabashed celebration of self-taught American know-how and persistence. His report on Niagara Falls persuaded me that it was high time I put aside my own reluctance to visit that turn-of-the-century honeymooners' magnet. And his chapters on Hannibal and Concord led me to resolve that I really should read "Huckleberry Finn," and Thoreau's "Walden," and some of Emerson's essays.
This book is also full of interesting historical nuggets. I never knew that Borglum, Mount Rushmore's creator, was also responsible for the first stages of carving the Confederate pantheon of Lee, Stonewall Jackson and Jefferson Davis on Georgia's Stone Mountain. I was surprised to discover that the number of British and Irish emigrants in the Alamo's garrison substantially exceeded the number of native-born Texans. And it is striking to learn that after men had dreamed for thousands of years of being able to fly, the Wright Brothers finally solved the problem in a disciplined, economical effort that took less than four years and required the expenditure of barely $300.
By the time I finished this book, I felt that I'd been too critical of Zinsser initially. After all, I'd been to only a third of the sites that Zinsser covers in this book (although I have been to a number of other "iconic" sites that he does not cover). The sheer size of this country and the dispersal of its most important historical sites and natural wonders means that a concerted, deliberate effort is required to visit many of them. Zinsser's book has prompted me to be more conscious of how good a job I'm doing about taking my own children to see America's most visited and cherished sites.
As for Zinsser himself, I hope these travels have inspired him to further expand his horizons. I hope he's finally gotten over his instinctive resistance to matters military and made the pilgrimage to Gettysburg, and perhaps Antietam, too. And I'd love to someday see an article in which he tries to take the measure of Graceland!
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6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
American Places, April 17, 2003
This review is from: American Places (Common Reader Editions) (Paperback)
In 1990 William Zinsser took to his pilgrimage to explore the United States. When people think of a leisure vacation they think of Paris, Rome, or Amsterdam, but what about the places right in our back yard? William Zinsser did just that. He took what he knew about America and explored it. He set aside eighteen months of his life to explore fifteen of America's beauty. His sites include a variety of places like Mt. Rushmore, Disneyland, Niagara Falls and the Rockefeller Center.
There are millions of places to visit in America that most people probably don't give two thoughts about taking their children there. He digs deep, opens our eyes and lets us know that good quality fun is right in your backyard-you just have to look.
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