UK Holidays - Banvard's Folly: Thirteen Tales of People Who Didn't Change the World

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Binding: Paperback Dewey Decimal Number: 973 EAN: 9780312300333 ISBN: 0312300336 Label: Picador Manufacturer: Picador Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 320 Publication Date: 2002-05-03 Publisher: Picador Studio: Picador
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Editorial Reviews: In Banvard's Folly, Paul Collins celebrates what he calls the "forgotten ephemera of genius." Here are thirteen unforgettable portraits of men and women who might have claimed their share of renown but who, whether from ill timing, skullduggery, monomania, the tinge of madness, or plain bad luck-or perhaps some combination of them all-leapt straight from life into thankless obscurity. Among their number are scientists, artists, writers, entrepreneurs, and adventurers, from across the centuries and around the world. They hold in common the silenced aftermath of failure, the name that rings no bells-until now.AUTHORBIO: Paul Collins writes for McSweeneys Quarterly, and his work has also appeared in Lingua Franca and eCompany Now. While writing Banvard's Folly he lived in San Francisco, where he taught early-American literature at Dominican University. He and his family moved briefly to Wales-a journey about which he is writing a book-and now live in Oregon.REVIEW:"Hearteningly strange..." (The Onion) REVIEW: "Of Collins' endeavor...we can proclaim our permanent thanks and amazement and heartiest welcome." (The Los Angeles Times Book Review) REVIEW: "Thirteen wry biographical essays about people, once famous, who have disappeared from memory." (The New Yorker)
Spotlight customer reviews: Customer Rating: Summary: very interesting Comment: This book is filled with windows into the the lives of people who did or tried to do very interesting things, and never had their stories told until now. Very interesting slices of life. Fun to read. Customer Rating: Summary: Wonderful and true tales Comment: This humurous and sympathetic presentation of thirteen lives of historical nobodies is a sheer delight to read. Among his subjects, Collins chose a showman, a forger, a scholar, an imposter, a wannabe actor and several scientists and inventors, not to mention a businessman or two. Some tales are absurd and hilarious, while others are sad and even tragic to a degree. All are well-written and fascinating. I selected this title to kick off a book club in my library and everyone loved it as much as I did. It is highly recommended. Customer Rating: Summary: Truly insightful Comment: I absolutely loved this book. Paul Collins takes thirteen chapters of American myth that have been largely forgotten and turns them into an eye opening treatise on the failure of will, the folly of hubris, and the absolute madness of challenging the status quo. Mr. Collins' style leads to frequent laugh out loud asides while telling the story of folks who either succeeded and then lost, had a mad idea that failed (but not for lack of trying), or who had the sheer will to make themselves momentarily inportant only to be swallowed up by the tide of time. Every person and idea profiled was at one time wildly popular or important and each eventually fell from favor for one reason or another. Sometimes it was common sense that triumphed, sometimes fad ran its course, sometimes folks just got too bizarre for accomodation. I highly recommend this book for anyone wanting a look into uncommon history. Mr. Collins has done us the favor of rummaging through the musty, dusty, long forgotten bookstacks of some of our most prestigious libraries and he has come up with a winner of a book. Save yourself the moldy lungs and long hours of researching the library basements yourself and read this work. Customer Rating: Summary: Pretty damn good Comment: Don't know if I'd give it 5 stars but it's pretty good. Customer Rating: Summary: A Sypathetic Retelling of Tales of Failure Comment: "Banvard's Folly" is a wonderful book, thanks to the talents of author Paul Collins. As you have probably gathered by now from other write-ups, this book tells the story of 13 people, once prominent, and now largely forgotten. They each earned inclusion in this book because of a grand failure of some sort. In other hands, this material could have been a tool for ridicule; but Collins strikes just the right tone here. While not forgiving his subjects' excesses or blind spots, he manages to tell their stories with a real sense of empathy. It's obvious that a lot of research went into this volume, but Collins never overpowers the reader with it; each chapter just seems to glide along. If history's lesser lights are of interest to you, you should enjoy this. More Reviews