I Wish I'd Been There: Twenty Historians Bring to Life Dramatic Events That Changed America [Hardcover]

Byron Hollinshead (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 3, 2006

Twenty distinguished American historians vividly reimagine twenty events of great drama and significance in our country’s past.

“What is the scene or incident in American history that you would like to have witnessed—and why?” This is the thought-provoking question that editor Byron Hollinshead posed to twenty of our finest interpreters of American history with the invitation to write a personal essay answering it. The result is I Wish I’d Been There, a book that trains a lens on crucial moments of our past and brings them to vivid life. With these peerless scholars as their guides, readers will be transported to the Salem witch trials, the Lewis and Clark expedition, the raid on Harpers Ferry, the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, the Scopes “monkey trial,” the beginnings of the Vietnam War, the voting rights march to Selma, and other turning points of our national drama. Contributors include Mary Beth Norton, Joseph Ellis, Jay Winik, Carol Berkin, Kevin Baker, Robert Cowley, Carolyn Gilman, Geoffrey Ward, Robert Dallek, and William Leuchtenburg, among other luminaries of the historical profession.
I Wish I’d Been There is a marvelous concept, wonderfully and imaginatively executed. The result is an American pageant of character and event that will attract and delight readers of history.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

If she could be a fly on the wall at a pivotal moment in American history, Mary Beth Norton would have witnessed the Salem witch trials. These were driven not by greed or, as Arthur Miller would have it, by adultery, she writes, but by Massachusetts colonists' overwhelming fears about the frontier war with the Wabanaki Indians. Gathered by Hollinshead, former president of Oxford University Press and publisher of the military history journal MHQ, the best pieces in this uniformly perceptive and provocative volume dispel popular myths and serve up familiar events and heroes from fresh vantage points. According to Joseph Ellis, George Washington spent most of his first term trying to find a just solution to the Native American sovereignty problem and bribed a Creek chief to achieve his goals. Geoffrey Ward wonders if FDR's physicians gave him the lowdown on his failing health before he decided to run for a fourth term, and William Leuchtenburg reimagines the tongue-lashing LBJ gave fellow "good ole boy" George Wallace before the 1965 civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery. Personal essays on the Scopes "monkey" trial, the day Lincoln was shot and the flourishing Indian metropolis of Cahokia (in present-day Illinois) circa 1030 round out this tantalizing collection. B&w illus. (Oct. 3)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Countless historians and lay thinkers have expressed their fantasy of being a "fly on the wall," able to view and listen in as a particular moment in history unfolded. Hollinshead has assembled an anthology of these participatory fantasies, written by 20 prominent historians. Through the imagined experiences of these historians, we can spend a day in -eleventh-century Cahokia, the Native American metropolis on the Great Plains; we can join Meriwether Lewis as he straddles the Continential Divide and puts to rest the dream of the Northwest Passage; we can sit in the sweltering courtroom as Bryan and Darrow joust over evolution. Although the various descriptions are well grounded in historical fact, they are inevitably filtered through the biases of the individual historians, and some will dispute their interpretations of reality. So this may not be strictly data-driven history, but it is provocative and should be a fun read for both historians and general readers. Jay Freeman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 338 pages
• Publisher: Doubleday (October 3, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385516193
• ISBN-13: 978-0385516198
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #756,398 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Historians let their imaginations range, October 9, 2006

By 

Lynn Harnett (Marathon, FL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: I Wish I'd Been There: Twenty Historians Bring to Life Dramatic Events That Changed America (Hardcover)

Given a chance to let their imaginations round out their expertise, these historians and writers flesh out the incidents in American history that most fascinate them. This is an inviting and intriguing premise for those of us who like our history served up in short dramatic narratives. And it's mostly successful, although, as with any anthology, some writers are better than others, and some pivotal events are more riveting or moving or impressive than others.

Arranged chronologically, the anthology begins with the elaborate funeral of a chieftain in 1030 Cahokia, a metropolis on the Mississippi, as witnessed by Biloine Young. It concludes with William Leuchtenburg's discussion of Lyndon Johnson's heated confrontation with George Wallace before the 1965 civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.

In between we see the Lewis and Clark expedition crossing the Continental Divide with the help of the Shoshone Indians, George Washington in a post-revolutionary moment of diplomatic eloquence, the shooting of Abraham Lincoln, the Salem witch trials, the Amistad trial, singer Jenny Lind's American debut, John Brown's strange and reckless stand at Harper's Ferry, the surrender of the Nez Perce Indians in 1877, the Scopes trial, FDR's turn for the worse before his fourth-term election, JFK and the Vietnam war, the civil rights struggle, and more.

Though each writer focuses on a particular moment in time, they bring their considerable knowledge of the background and subsequent results to bear, fixing the moment in context. Cornell professor Mary Beth Norton explains that when she was writing her book on the Salem witch trials, "In the Devil's Snare," she became so obsessed that she "thought it perfectly logical" to compose a weekly message on her answering machine detailing the events of the corresponding week in 1692 Salem.

She, like most of the other historians, would use her time machine to go back and get the real truth - to hear testimony that was never written down, to discover how the villagers reacted to the convictions of well-liked and respected citizens, to find out why the trials ended so abruptly and mysteriously. Few historians want to imagine themselves as part of the events themselves, but rather prefer to satisfy their curiosity as scholars with first-hand knowledge.

This is less true for those who are not professional historians. Novelist Jonathan Rabb ("Rosa," "The Overseer") de-mythologizes the Scopes trial for those of us reliant on the Hollywood version. But his main interest in being there is to share the unrecordable experience - the cadence of rousing speeches meant to be heard, not read, the mood of the crowd outside in the square, the scuttlebutt at the principal unofficial gathering place, Robinson's Drugstore.

In his stirring essay, writer and TV producer Philip B. Kunhardt III would like to have been swept up by the voice of the Swedish Nightingale, Jenny Lind, and have encountered the two strong personalities involved in her US debut - the famous, independent and principled singer and the flamboyant new convert to temperance and respectability, P.T. Barnum.

Some historians allow a hint of wonder at how things might have been different if the moment had not gone as it did. Carol Berkin admires the adroit eloquence of Washington in knowing just what little to say to calm his mutinous officers in 1783, when the new country was set so precariously on a path to republican democracy. Jay Winik wonders if he would have attempted to stop Lincoln going to the theater or wrestled Booth to the floor. "Even to ask these questions is to ponder the potentially terrifying consequences of meddling with the ebb and flow of the mysteries of history."

Other events seem all but inevitable. Journalist Mark Stevens writes a painterly, dignified and tragic view of the surrender of the Nez Perce after the failure of their last desperate push to keep their freedom by escaping to Canada to join Sitting Bull and the Sioux.

And in Clayborne Carson's thoughtful essay on the 1963 March on Washington, the historian who actually WAS there wishes he could go back and experience it all again, "knowing what I know now."

This is a lively, thought-provoking collection, which should be of interest to just about anyone and is particularly recommended for those who avoid reading history for fear of being bored. Black and white photos accompany many of the essays.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Variety is the spice of life!, October 11, 2006

By 

Monty Rainey (New Braunfels, TX) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: I Wish I'd Been There: Twenty Historians Bring to Life Dramatic Events That Changed America (Hardcover)

Just imagine the kind of performances you might see if renowned actors and actresses such as Nicholson, Pacino, Hepburn, Streep, Duvall, DeNiro and a cast of others were given the chance to stand up on stage and portray their favorite characters and performances. That's precisely what we have presented here with a talented cast of historians lending their personal renditions to historical accounts they are most fascinated with. Noted historians such as Remini and Ellis are joined by a cast of writers from various backgrounds that give a wealth of variety to this presentation.

Their imaginations will take the reader through an incredible journey of historical events, presented chronologically from the ancient metropolis that is now the Cahokia mounds along the Mississippi River in the year 1030 to the turmoil of the Civil Rights marches of Alabama in 1965. There is certainly something here for every historical taste. The writing, for the most part, is superb, though a few stand out above the others. I wont disclose my personal favorites as that should be left to each reader to discern for themselves, but suffice it to say, if you love history, you will not be disappointed here.

You will likely find events you are quite familiar with, such as Lewis and Clark on the Great Divide, as well as others you may know little or nothing about. Such was the case for me with the opening narrative of Cahokia.

If you like your history reading varied and in rather small doses, this is a must read. I believe this would also be of great benefit for students wanting to explore a variety of essays to lead them towards further studies of specific events. I would have liked a more indepth bibliography, but we cant have everything.

Monty Rainey
www.juntosociety.com

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Makes you wonder what you'd like to have witnessed in history!, September 7, 2007

By 

Armchair Interviews (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: I Wish I'd Been There: Twenty Historians Bring to Life the Dramatic Events That Changed America (Vintage) (Paperback)

Twenty historians and writers of historical fiction were asked to pick a defining event in American history and write an account of it. Given the sheer number of significant events in American history and the various lenses one could use to view history, picking a single event (or compiling twenty events) becomes a daunting task. The selection is a reflection of the authors' personal choices. One willl remember endeavors like this one for their omissions-rather than their accomplishments.

Arranged chronologically, this work begins with the funeral of a chieftain in Cahokia and ends with Lyndon Johnson's conversation with George Wallace in regard to civil rights. It also includes Washington's treaty with the Creek Nation Indians, Lincoln's assassination, the Salem witchcraft trial, the Amistad trial, the Scopes trial, Lewis and Clark expedition, Jenny Lind's debut in New York, Chief Joseph's surrender at Bear Paw Mountains, John Brown's stand at Harper's Ferry, John and Robert Kennedy discussing the Vietnam war, and others.

The contributors were given liberties to hear testimonies that were not written down, witness reactions which are not recorded, listen to thoughts that are only imagined, and experience conditions that are conjured up for that time period. As with works like this one, readers would find certain chapters more appealing than others, certain events more interesting than others and certain writing styles more provocative than others.

We engage in role play everyday. Our moments of empathy bear witness to such role play. Hence the idea of compiling a book where the author is free to role play is a good one. The "short story" format of the book allows the reader to take in history in small doses. While this works for those of us who only have a limited duration of reading time, it does not allow for in-depth historical analysis and insight. Permitting the authors to embellish what is known through historical records humanizes the historical events. However in some cases, the authors go a little too far. There are some really good chapters and some that need refinement - overall a mixed bag.

Armchair Interviews says: Unique look at history--what was chosen and what was omitted.