GALLERY OF GREAT AMERICANS: Portraits and Capsule Biographies of 104 Great Americans from George Washington to John F. Kennedy, Each of Which Can Be Read in Sixty Seconds

by Andrew Curtin ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 12, 1966

Churchill and LaFayette are honorary citizens, but they are here. Grandma Moses made it, but not Winslow Homer. There's O. Henry, but no Poe. A lot of newspapermen made it, including Ng Poon Chew, the founder of the first Chinese daily newspaper. But the Patterson-McCormicks are pointedly ignored. They were the newspaper opponents of Hearst and this book started as a series in the San Francisco Examiner, a Hearst newspaper. About 10% of those present are Californians. There's Phoebe Apperson Hearst, who gave money to charity, who gave time to American education, and who gave William Randolph Hearst to the world. He's right next to her in 60 seconds of fulsome praise. The jacket copy splashes around in the melting pot with, ""We are Greek and Pole and Russian...we are nordic, we are slav.... We are Catholic, Protestant and Jew. We are Moslem and Buddhist and Shinto."" Shinto? Can't figure which of the alphabetically entered, idiosyncratic inclusions may have been Shinto, unless it was Grandma Moses in a previous, undiscussed incarnation. Ken Alexander has supplied 2fl x 2(apple) engravings, which make everybody look quite great--and quite dead. Maybe if you need a batch of 60-second reading tests....

Pub Date: Feb. 12, 1966

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Watts

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1966

Categories: NONFICTION