Book Cases: Horwitz's method

Friday, June 26, 2009

Did you enjoy the book?

What did you think of Horwitz's method of interspersing historic accounts with present-day treks to the sites?

Erin said...: I did enjoy the book. And I enjoyed Horwitz's storytelling method. There were times, though, when I wished he'd get back to the history. And also times when the present-day adventure seemed a little irrelevant. But I do think his present-day narrative and interviews with the current residents of these New World discoveries added to the discussion about Americans forgetting -- or rewriting -- their history.; 4:52 PM, June 29, 2009
kc said...: That was my impression, too. I highly enjoyed the way he told the historic stories, but sometimes I felt the present-day anecdotes bordered on the tedious, maybe because he seemed to encounter a lot of kooks and was willing, for the sake of local color or something, to give them a forum they really didn't deserve. I found it much more interesting when he spoke to people who were truly knowledgeable about the topic at hand.

But you do make a good point that it added to the discussion of Americans forgetting/rewriting — and also how they cling to ancient strife (like the religious nutballs in Florida who took the French Huguenot thing so seriously and personally!); 8:06 PM, June 30, 2009
Erin said...: Yeah, I didn't enjoy the major kooks so much. I'm not sure they added much value to the book.; 1:06 PM, July 01, 2009

Friday, June 26, 2009